Finnish Documentary "Without My Daughter".The dicector Kouros said that the aim was to "show the lies in the American film and present the real story behind" what turned into an acrimonious custody battle for his daughter.

Liverotto · 2011-11-20T18:12:35+00:00

It is a counter documentary to the Propaganda Feminist Anti-Iranian movie "NOT Without My Daughter".

Controversy and criticism

NOT Without My Daughter has been criticized for its alleged misrepresentation of Muslim Iranians and of Iranian Islamic culture.[2] Caryn James of The New York Times, in a review, states that the movie "exploits the stereotype of the demonic Iranian...it is an utter artistic failure, and its reliance on cultural stereotype is a major cause". Moody, she writes, seems to be a "pure product of his culture, a mysterious, misogynist Easterner...the film views fanaticism as the Iranian national character".[3] A review in the Los Angeles Times described the movie as "unbalanced and distorted" which "fails to distinguish between the (Iranian) state and the people". [2] In his review, film critic Roger Ebert noted the film made "moral and racial assertions that are deeply troubling" and that it "does not play fair with its Muslim characters. If a movie of such a vitriolic and spiteful nature were to be made in America about any other ethnic group, it would be denounced as racist and prejudiced."[4]

In response to Not Without My Daughter, a Finnish documentary, titled Without My Daughter was made by director Alexis Kouros. It is composed of interviews with Dr. Mahmoody regarding his life in Iran and attempts to contact his daughter Mahtob again. Kouros said that the aim of the 90-minute documentary was to "show the lies in the American film and present the real story behind" what turned into an acrimonious custody battle for Mahtob Mahmoody.

Outrageous-Ad9424 · 2026-06-28T04:05:49+00:00

YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THIS TRASHY #PROPAGANDA!!! IF I'M GOING TO BELIEVE ANYONE.... IT'S THE DAUGHTER IN HER OWN WORDS:

Though the recollections of Mahmoody's ordeal were riveting, it was her daughter's

childhood memories and her feelings about her time in her father's country that were revealing of a nation struggling against its own people.

"Iran is not bad. Iran is not good. I am proud of my Iranian heritage," Mahtob said. "Not all Iranian families are like my dad's family. Iran is a country of war and government oppression. The Iranian people at the time were suffering at the hands of their own government and the effects of the Iranian war."

Some of her most memorable moments of her time in Iran were of being afraid.

"The sound of my father's footsteps changed," she said. "In America, I was daddy's girl. He was a people person. He was charming. In Iran, he was angry, bitter. I could hear his footsteps coming down the hall, and they were deliberate and angry. I was so frightened. I thought he was going to kill my mother. It is so vivid to me."

Mahtob recalled her school experience, where students had to spit and stomp on the American flag before entering the school courtyard. Students had to march in formations and yell "Death to America" in cadences. They were told what colors to color pictures, and were only allowed to speak the same words and intonations of their teachers during lessons.

"Children were taught to follow, not to think or lead," she said.

Coming back to America was difficult for Mahtob, then 6, who was filled with confusion, anger and hatred toward her father and his country.

"I remember my mom telling me there was a plane crash in Iran that killed Iranians," she said. "I remember saying 'Good. I hope my dad was one of them.'"

"My mom says I'm the heroine of this story. But she is really the heroine. She set aside her feelings and anger, and said 'No way am I going to let her be a prisoner of her own anger.' She took out pictures of my father when he was loving and kind. I didn't want to look at them."

But she did, and the anger and hatred melted, and she remembered her father as someone who would always love her. He died last year.

"My mom allowed me to forgive and go on with my life," she said.

Mahtob is now a grown woman, married to a U.S. Soldier, who will be deploying to a war zone this summer. And she still appreciates and celebrates the freedoms of America.

"What a blessing that we have opportunities here to decide, to make our own decisions. It's overwhelming the amount of freedom we have here. It's incredible," she said.

"Last July, I got married. I decided to marry and who I would marry, and I chose an American Soldier."

RabidRaccoon · 2011-11-20T18:26:52+00:00

This video is not at all credible. William Vincent - Film Studies Lecturer, MSU - should be ashamed of what he said.

RabidRaccoon · 2011-11-20T20:17:55+00:00

Here's Maktob Mahmoody talking about Iran

http://www.army.mil/article/36449/American_flag_was___039_point_of_safety__039__for_mother__daughter_held_prisoner_in_Iran/

"Iran is not bad. Iran is not good. I am proud of my Iranian heritage," Mahtob said. "Not all Iranian families are like my dad's family. Iran is a country of war and government oppression. The Iranian people at the time were suffering at the hands of their own government and the effects of the Iranian war."

Some of her most memorable moments of her time in Iran were of being afraid.

"The sound of my father's footsteps changed," she said. "In America, I was daddy's girl. He was a people person. He was charming. In Iran, he was angry, bitter. I could hear his footsteps coming down the hall, and they were deliberate and angry. I was so frightened. I thought he was going to kill my mother. It is so vivid to me."

Mahtob recalled her school experience, where students had to spit and stomp on the American flag before entering the school courtyard. Students had to march in formations and yell "Death to America" in cadences. They were told what colors to color pictures, and were only allowed to speak the same words and intonations of their teachers during lessons.

"Children were taught to follow, not to think or lead," she said.

Coming back to America was difficult for Mahtob, then 6, who was filled with confusion, anger and hatred toward her father and his country.

"I remember my mom telling me there was a plane crash in Iran that killed Iranians," she said. "I remember saying 'Good. I hope my dad was one of them.'"

"My mom says I'm the heroine of this story. But she is really the heroine. She set aside her feelings and anger, and said 'No way am I going to let her be a prisoner of her own anger.' She took out pictures of my father when he was loving and kind. I didn't want to look at them."

But she did, and the anger and hatred melted, and she remembered her father as someone who would always love her. He died last year.

"My mom allowed me to forgive and go on with my life," she said.

Mahtob is now a grown woman, married to a U.S. Soldier, who will be deploying to a war zone this summer. And she still appreciates and celebrates the freedoms of America.

"What a blessing that we have opportunities here to decide, to make our own decisions. It's overwhelming the amount of freedom we have here. It's incredible," she said.

"Last July, I got married. I decided to marry and who I would marry, and I chose an American Soldier."

http://www2.starexponent.com/lifestyles/2008/nov/02/not_afraid_of_change-ar-334946/

Mahtob, only 4 at the time, remembers watching as her father beat her mother and his family turned a blind eye. The little girl, however, “felt a strong sense of responsibility to protect my mom,” she said.

“If I was stuck in between my dad and mom, maybe he wouldn’t hit her. Maybe if I stuck my finger down my throat and I tried to vomit, I would distract his attention. Maybe if I cried and said I had to go to the bathroom he would let her take me and that would buy more time.”

One time, her mother — who wrote about the experience in 1987’s “Not Without My Daughter,” later made into a Lifetime movie — got terribly sick with dysentery, begging Mahtob not let her father give her a shot.

“She was so frightened he was going to give her an injection and kill her.”

As time passed, the beatings became increasingly violent, Mahmoody said, until one night her father locked her in an upstairs apartment.

“I was 5 years old at the time and for two weeks he interrogated me. He asked every day, ‘Where do you go? Who are you talking to?’ He thought we were trying to escape. For two weeks he tried to get me to break. I didn’t break.”

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