Not Without My Daughter

As an independent filmmaker there are few movies I will give a full five stars credit to, but this is definitely one of them. Sally Fields outdid herself with her amazing performance in this film about an American wife and mother who hesitantly goes on vacation in Iran to please her Iranian husband then becomes entrapped when he refuses to let her return to the U.S. with her daughter. The film is based on a true story from the book written by Betty Mahoody. This was truly an award winning performance on Sally Fields behalf and a film that brings accurate reality to Americans as to how vulnerable we become once we are on foreign soil. The story is riveting as Betty Mahoody attempts to escape Iran several times with her daughter, Mahtob, and ends up caught in the act where she suffers abuse and isolation from her husband as punishment. Finally she enables the help of a sympathetic Iranian shopkeeper who connects her to the right friendly outsider to assist in escaping, only to discover that her husband has foiled her plans with the intention of sending her off to America without her daughter. Desperate to keep her child, Betty finds a much more dangerous method of escape and must travel over warring territories by truck and horse until both she and her daughter are finally dropped on Turkey's doorstep and out of harm's way. This is a film you will rehash and watch time and again. Great script, and an excellent performance by Alfred Molina as Betty's husband. This is a hard to find DVD and can be expensive to obtain as the original version came out in VHS in 1990.

This is the true story of an American woman whose Iranian husband forced her and her daughter to stay in Iran for a year and a half, until she could undertake a dangerous but successful escape back to America. The book this is based on has more depth, but this film is still well made and fascinating. It's a view into the revolutionary era of Iran in the 1980's, and the clash of cultures between that world and the USA. The film also serves as a warning about the potential danger of having children with a foreign national. Custody rights are often impossible to enforce outside American borders.

Love to as described

Awesome movie, incredible true journey

Absolutely love this movie not without my daughter Sally Fields is a really good actress. I would recommend this movie for anybody that has not seen it good price.

Received it in the mail today. I loved the movie! Great acting. So awesome!

Had been looking a long time for this movie so I went to the one place I knew would have it, Amazon. Wonderful to see it again.

Personal since I had seen on tv but decided to buy the dvd to share.

Excellent movie in that it exposes a drop in an immeasurable bucket. Very brutal and graphic. Not for anyone expecting a feel-good story. Sally Field is the perfect person for the part of the terrorized wife/mother. Alfred Molina also excels in his role as the treacherously/deceitful husband. The story changes on a dime and they are all trapped in a family that shows no mercy for anyone outside of their culture.

Hello, This movie came on time and in perfect condition. It is just as I remembered it many yrs. ago. A true story, and a warning lesson to take to heart. The woman this story is about was on the Opra show with Sally Field and one thing they said was., for a woman who was not of the Moslem faith it was not a sensible thing to marry a Moslem man no matter how wonderful he may be, and if you do anyhow because you love him so much, do not go home to the middle east with him or take your children there because you may have the same experience as this woman and find herself and her child a prisoner in that foreign country. Apparently it happens all the time. Be careful. Sincerely, C. A. D.

Everything was great

Good quality with English subtitles despite package labeling. Tragic story about a brave mother, daughter and Iranian and Kurdish helpers.

Movie arrived good and in brand new unopened condition.