Written and Directed by Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart makes his directorial film debut with 'Rosewater', the dramatisation of a story that might never have existed if not for his own popular satirical  USA television programme “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” The protagonist Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-Canadian journalist, finds himself on the receiving end of a different joke when the Iranian authorities fail to see the humour in an interview segment the Newsweek reporter (he) does for “The Daily Show” with a comedian posing as an American spy interested in the Iranian election which Bahari is covering. Something is lost in translation over the airwaves and the authorities presume that Baharo is himself a spy and an agent of the revolt spiralling out of control following the dubious election results that retain power for Iranian dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“You have a real weapon and you choose not to use it,” says one of Bahari’s colleagues when their pursuit of history in the making fails to inspire Bahari to harness the power that he wields in his hands. Bahari instantly has an awakening and he takes the advice of his friend who, sadly, will soon join him in prison. Bahari, as played by Gael García Bernal, undergoes a true growth as he becomes more than a mere observer with his camera and evolves into an agent for change.

Rosewater intuitively mixes the footage of Bahari’s camera—shaky, lo-res footage—as Stewart intersperses forms and film stock to give the film a docu-drama hybridity. The perceptual realism of the footage embeds Bahari’s story within the larger context of Ahmadinejad’s regime by drawing attention to the outcry surrounding the 2009 election even if the film itself doesn’t have time to encompass a larger political canvas. The collage of drama and actualité, however, situates Rosewater within the larger context of the frontline journalists who risk their lives to expose the truth. The film champions the ground-level work of ordinary people fighting for change.

García Bernal, arguably Mexico’s premier film actor, convincingly plays the Iranian-Canadian Bahari despite the variance in origins and he generally avoids the cross-cultural awkwardness since he jives well with the humour of Stewart’s direction and emphasises the humanism of Bahari’s story through his spirit. The film gains additional global scope and resonance thanks to an effective supporting performance by Shohreh Aghdashloo as Bahari’s mother and pepperings of popular culture that waft into the prison like the sunlight that gives Bahari life. Stewart has a weapon in his hands and he clearly knows how to use it. This politically engaged and shrewdly satirical debut by Stewart shows immense promise and is an exceptionally well-crafted work.