To think how lucky we are (after watching film 'Not without my Daughter')

[ISpendFarTooMuchOnFood]

Anyone seen the film with Sally Fields 'Not Without My Daughter'. It's from the eighties but I watched it off Amazon last night. It was based on a true story.

I don't want to ruin it for anyone that fancies watching it but it is basically an american woman who is married to an iranian man (he has lived in the US for 20 years and is a doctor and is very much living the US lifestyle).

He tricks her into going for a holiday to Iran saying they'll come back in 2 weeks but when she gets there he says they are not going back.

Due to the laws of the country she can divorce him and leave but he gets the daughter so she would have to leave her daughter behind.

He then goes from being this nice husband in America to treating her terribly and she is trapped.

It was a very frightening film to watch and I could feel the desperation, panic and fear of Sally Fields who did an excellent job. It very much made me think of woman living in these types of circumstances ie Afganistan and how lucky we are living in the UK.

Anyway perhaps a film that appeals to the more mature lady (i'm in my fifties) but I thought it was worth a watch.

Didn't post it in TV addicts as I thought that was too narrow for what I wanted to say.

From what I remember it depicted all its Muslim characters as fanatical, vicious stereotypes — the people who helped the American character to escape were all dissidents or in some way made out to be ‘different’. Everyone else was a cartoon.

This is what Roger Egbert made of it.
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/not-without-my-daughter-1991

Brilliant film I've seen it a couple of times. The way her husband changes is shocking, especially, since it's all based on a true story.

Just on the theme of 'we don't have it so bad in the UK' another film worth a watch is The Stoning of Soraya M. I don't want to say much about it but the bit that horrified me the most was her father. It's another one based on a true story.

It's on Amazon too. It's rated 7.9 by IMDB and almost 5 stars in it's reviews by nearly 800 people. It's not a feel good film so be warned.

My mum absolutely loved the book and said it was much better than the film

You don’t have to marry an Iranian to experience this. I’m sure there are plenty of women around here in transcultural marriages, who are trapped in a country that is not their own because they cannot leave unless they leave their children behind.

The book is better than the film, although I did enjoy the film too. The book describes things in more detail. It did get very exciting at the end.

Another recommendation to read the book if you haven't done so already!

Yes. Read the book and watched the film back in the 90s. It doesn't leave you that one

Yes, I have a British friend who is in an emotionally abusive marriage in Spain. Apparently if she chooses to leave the marital home, she forfeits parental rights. Her Hu could withold all access to her child (which he has told her he would do), so she is putting up with it til DC is 18.
I was so shocked that anywhere in Europe still has laws like that.

I am surrounded by women trapped in similar circumstances in Britain. It happens everywhere.

She might find this helpful and Reunite can give her advice.

@Ecrire OP hasn't given it away at all, that's really just the first 20 mins of the film, there's plenty more to the story after that.

I think the film that stands out for me and is a true story is.
The rabbit proof fence.

I watched it years ago.

It is not uncommon, Mandy Kelly Dublin, her two children were kept in Egypt by their father, in 2022, she's been fighting tirelessly for their safe return. She had to leave without them.

They were 2 and 10 months when he refused to return from a family holiday to visit his parents.

The film's rubbish, the book is far better.

I read the book as a teenager and it's stuck with me all of my life. Though as an adult, I can see some inconsistencies and I have enjoyed the book less.

I didn't enjoy watching the movie because funnily enough it wasn't exactly the same as the book was in my head so it wasn't 'right'

Well it was her choice to marry him so luck doesn't come into it

I read the book decades ago. Dh had an aunt and uncle who worked in Iran in the 50s and had a Brit friend in the same position. They smuggled her and her child out in their car - had to take a hazardous route through difficult terrain where they weren’t likely to be stopped.

I read the book back in the 80s. It was one of those books that stays with you.

I remember reading this book too, many years ago. Does anyone else remember the book about two sisters (or cousins?) from the Midlands who went to the Yemen with their dad for a holiday and he basically kidnapped them and married them off? I read that a couple of times, so horrifying.

Yes that rings a bell, really chilling.

There was a similar series of books ghostwritten about a Saudi Princess and life in Saudi Arabia. Also chilling.

@SunsetCocktails
I think that book was titled ‘Sold’.

@quirkychickyes I read those too!

@tatasa I think you’re right, that rings a
bell. I read it a couple of times.

I've read that book a few times it's very good but I've never seen the movie, I remember there was a lot of publicity about the book when it came out. I remember her being interviewed on an Irish TV show when I was a child so it was a major story.