Movie Review: "Not Without My Daughter"

I just finished watching "Not Without My Daughter" starring Sally Fields and Alfred Molina. I feel like I've been hurt and I'm in shock. Not because it's a wonderfully good movie, I'd rate the overall movie at average. It's a difficult film to watch because Molina's character Moody becomes physically abusive to his wife Betty (Fields). Moody tricks Betty into 'visiting' his family in Iran, then ends up holding her hostage there, telling her he doesn't want to go back to the United States, forcing her to become a good Muslim wife. This movie definitely made me think about cultural differences.

And part of the hurt I feel over this movie is for Molina as an actor, actually, I can imagine how hard it must have been for him to play the character he did, to wrap his head around all the religious and cultural beliefs that make a wife property instead of a person. I read in an on-line interview that he considers this movie to be one of his best performances because the character is so different from who he is as a person. Unfortunately, I felt the movie didn't do his performance justice, somehow, not enough reaction shots or something, I can't quite put my finger on it...

I guess I feel pain on Molina's behalf, because I've been struggling with this "Final Placement" monologue, I know how hard a time I've been having getting my head wrapped around Luellen's beliefs and ways of thinking, that it's okay to hold your own 4 year old son's hands on a hot stove until he has 2nd degree burns, then abandon him, and then turn around and lie to the social worker in an attempt to get him back 6 months later.

I feel like I'm in shock, I've got all these thoughts whirling around in my brain, like there's so much more for me to say, and yet there's nothing left for me to say.