And so, Lions Gate gets a little more high-brow by shipping me a copy of The Stoning of Soraya M. for me to review, and the end result will downright surprise you.

The Stoning of Soraya M. follows a journalist who gets stranded in a remote village in Iran with car trouble.  But what he’s stumbled on when he runs into one of the villagers is the start of a long and horrifying story about lies, deceit and infidelity.  The villager spins the journalist a story of a local woman whose husband wanted a divorce.  But rather than getting it through normal channels, he decided to accuse his wife of adultery instead.

And apparently, in Iran, this calls for the death by stoning of the woman in question.

That’s the story, anyway–and rest assured that this story has caused a whole lot of trouble for a whole lot of people.  Considering that a Danish cartoonist almost died over something like this, it’s a wonder the movie ever got made.  Its depiction of corruption and deceit is both stark and horrifying in its way.  And yet, there are also depictions of love and courage in here that will uplift even as the horrors threaten to drag you under.

The Stoning of Soraya M. possesses an incredible depth that goes in every possible direction to produce a tale that’s moving and intense.  Some of it will make you angry.  A lot of it will make you deeply sad.  But interestingly, there’s precious little about it that will leave you bored.  And in the end, that may be the surest sign that a movie has done its job.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives this powerful story of betrayal and deceit a nine out of ten for its incredible power and its well-crafted story.