Not Without My Daughter / YMMV

Americans Hate Tingle: Iranians hated this film and called it an offense to the portrayal of their country.
Glurge: The film's mostly negative reviews upon its release were credited to this — it's an inspirational story about a brave, resourceful woman who is determined to free herself and her daughter from involuntary captivity, but the story is ridden with unrelated unsavory assertions about a foreign culture. As Roger Ebert put it in his review:
Ebert: Here is a perplexing and frustrating film, which works with great skill to involve our emotions, while at the same time making moral and racial assertions that are deeply troubling. […] 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.
Harsher in Hindsight: Betty's discomfort about wearing the hijab when she comes to Iran. In the 2010-20s, there would be a wave of Iranian women mass murdered by the government for refusing to wear it.
Memetic Mutation: The film's title for some reason became a snowclone, "Not Without My [X]", being used in titles such as the South Park episode "Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus"^note and the Bob's Burgers episode "Yes Without My Zeke".
Moral Event Horizon: Mahmoody crosses it when he beats Betty in the face because she stood up to him. Even Mohtab, their seven year old daughter, tries to jump in front of her mother to defend her.
Nightmare Fuel: Combined with tearjerker - there's a country where women are murdered for not conforming to the Culture Police's standards, and it isn't fictional.
Overshadowed by Controversy: The message about women being held against their will that this film attempted to convey unfortunately got overshadowed by the controversy over its portrayal of Islam and Iran; criticism of the music from Jerry Goldsmith (accused of pandering to Middle Eastern stereotypes), and star Sally Field getting a Razzie nomination for the film did not help. The last strike was, of course, the film failing in theaters and with critics, losing money for MGM/Pathe and derailing director Brian Gilbert's career. The film nowadays is better known because of either that or the film's title becoming a snowclone.
Values Resonance:
- Betty resisting the patriarchal theocracy of Iran and fighting for her freedom. Her abusive husband wanted her to gave in to the repressive system, she didn't and broke free.
- After the killing of Mahsa Amini in 2022, the film's message about the plight of Iranian women is more relevant than ever.
Vindicated by History: Though the film proved to be unpopular at debut, it gained a newfound audience in viewers who watched it in school as part of From Entertainment to Education, who saw Betty as courageous for trying to fight back against a system that oppresses women.
The Woobie:
- Betty is married to an abusive husband, tricked into leaving her home and forced to stay in Iran, a country where women fundamentally have no rights and are the property of men. She desperately tries to break free, fearing for her and her daughter's welfare, and for this she is beaten in the face. The scene where she goes to the embassy and pleads for help is downright heartbreaking, especially when the woman says that she cannot help her. And despite it all, she never stops searching for solutions and eventually does earn her happy ending.
- Mahtob. At 7, she's whisked away to a new country she doesn't understand the customs of, and watches the father she once loved reveal his true colours as an abuser. She tries to defend her mother when she's beaten, and has to hide her American heritage or she'll face further abuse. What you see in the movie is the toned down version, as in Real Life Mahmoody also beat her as a child, and when he fell sick years later, he reached out to her and begged her to finally visit him. She declined.

YMMV / Not Without My Daughter

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