Entry 5

Not Without My Daughter was an interesting film. It was written by a woman named Betty and based off of her real life experience in Iran. It is, perhaps, the fact that she wrote it herself which makes it the most interesting . What did and did not really happen is sketchy, however, it is clear that Betty and her daughter went to Iran with Betty's husband on a vacation and were essentially trapped there by her husband. They did eventually manage to leave the country through illegal means. Everything else seems to be open to interpretation. Despite the largely negative view of Muslims, particularly women perpetuated by the film, it is the women of the film who are the strongest and most sympathetic characters. When Betty's husband tries to coerce information from their daughter on where she and Betty had been that day, it is one of the female relatives who takes the child away to relative safety. The women who teach at the school Betty's daughter attends are the most sympathetic. They request that Betty spends her days at the school because of how upset her daughter becomes. Though they are restricted by rules and regulations, they do explain to Betty ways for her to get around these rules, such as arriving at school late. They cannot allow her to leave the school with the child unless her husband accompanies her, however that is very understandable. They not only have themselves to think of, but also the other students. When Betty's husband beats Betty at the school because he rightly suspects that she and their daughter were late arriving because they were somewhere else trying to find a way to leave the country, it is these women who take Betty's daughter away and do what they can to protect her by bringing the girl into a classroom.They could not have interfered in the beating, but they could and did protect their student.