The movie Not Without My Daughter, a true story, showed how different two cultures can
be, in this case, American and Iranian. The two are as different as can be, clashing and
colliding from dress codes to religious beliefs. Read further, and I will explain.
Not Without My Daughter is a fantastic story, in which the main characters are Betty
(played by Sally Fields), Moody, her husband, and Mahtob, their very young daughter.
It starts when Moody, a doctor, also Iranian is in his workplace when he overhears two of
his colleagues, joking about Iran. Moody feels discriminated against, and quits his job,
feeling resurfaced emotions of Iran and his Islamic religion. It is later announced that
he felt guilty for not being in Iran to help when the war took place.
When he receives a phone call from family in Tehran, Iran's capital, regarding
Moody's lack of visitation, he is put over the edge, and pleas with Betty to visit Iran,
but she hesitates, knowing of the malicious happening, but when Moody swears on the Holy
Koran that he would not put her in any endangering place, she relents. He lies to her,
telling her he was fired from his job, and she is exasperating, stating that the reason
they move around so much is to get away from all the discrimination.
Upon their arrival in Tehran, they are swarmed with Moody's family and
acquaintances, and Betty is almost arrested for failing to wear the chador, or veil,
covering the hair.
Moody begins to change, in the presence of his family and religion. When the two
weeks of vacation are up, Moody refuses to leave, telling Betty there are many places and
needs for doctors in Iran, and he wants to find a job there. Betty, although much
reluctant, stays too, knowing its not a good upbringing for Mahtob.
After a long time of being miserable, hated (And watched carefully by the
fanatical family), and beaten, Moody enrolls Betty in a Koran study class, and later,
Mahtob in a school. This is the final straw, and after numerous attempts and failures at
trying to escape the horrid country, Betty goes to the marketplace and has the good
fortune to meet a man named Hamin, who lets her use his phone and shares with her his
story of his child, who was studying in Texas University, and when fighting in the war,
was killed. He introduces her to his sister, who in turn introduces her to Hussein, who
is part of a group called the Kurds, who helped her to flee from the country after many
correspondences. He led her from Tehran to Iraq, and then to Ankorah, Turkey, where she
finally is able to get back into waiting arms at the United States with her daughter she
refused to leave behind.
In my opinion, this was a fantastic movie, and shows me how lucky I am to live the
life I lead. It also shows me that I should not take for granted what I have and how I
don't have such a hard and controlled life compared to the battered, torn women in Iran,
and so many other countries that we are not aware of. It shows me that once you set your
mind to do something, follow through, try your hardest, and in the end, it will all come
out good.
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