The Message is a film about the rise of Islam on the Arabian Peninsula. It details the life of Muhammad, a citizen of Mecca, a popular trading city at the time, who started preaching about a new vision from God, eventually gaining such a following that he had to be driven out of town by those in power. But this only allowed him to spread his message even farther.
It's a nice enough historical biopic slash religious film. Director Moustapha Akkad went to great lengths to make the film as accurate as possible while still staying true to the doctrine of Islam. His budget wasn't the greatest, meaning that for example the city of Mecca looks rather run down and minuscule, a small scattering of ruins more than anything, but such things can be forgiven.
Two version of the film were made almost simultaneously. One for the Western audiences, with Western actors, and one for the Arabian audience, with an Arab cast. Interesting idea, and one that probably allowed the film to reach the West at all, but I quite honestly would have preferred if he had just stuck with Arab actors. Now the only copy I could find was the one with Western actors, and while they did their jobs admirably, it was still a bit odd to know that this probably wasn't the "definitive" version. Or at best, only half of it.
The film has bigger problem than that, however. And that is the Islamic tradition forbidding images of Muhammad being depicted in any shape or form. Meaning that this film doesn't have Muhammad in it. Sure, he's there, in many of the scenes, but he's not shown, nor is his voice heard. At best we see the scene as through his eyes, with people talking directly at him, i.e. the camera.
They also excluded many of the people closest to him. So the film doesn't have his wives, his daughters, his sons-in-law, nor a couple others of his close relatives. Take all those out and what's left is his uncle Hamza (Anthony Quinn in this version) and his adopted son Zayd (Damien Thomas) as the focus characters.
And I'm sorry, but that's a really awkward way of telling the story. Now it seems like Muhammad is a mute and people around him are putting words in his mouth. Because his character is not allowed to speak. It's like he's a figurehead of this new religion, a puppet on strings. That obviously wasn't the intention nor is it what actually happened, but that's the impression coming through the screen.
Plus it's at times pretty comical, which doesn't help.
The Message is not a bad historical epic. It has passion, it is interesting and the visuals are about as good as they could make them. But its innate limitations make it more than aggravating to watch from a practical point of view.
It's a nice enough historical biopic slash religious film. Director Moustapha Akkad went to great lengths to make the film as accurate as possible while still staying true to the doctrine of Islam. His budget wasn't the greatest, meaning that for example the city of Mecca looks rather run down and minuscule, a small scattering of ruins more than anything, but such things can be forgiven.
Two version of the film were made almost simultaneously. One for the Western audiences, with Western actors, and one for the Arabian audience, with an Arab cast. Interesting idea, and one that probably allowed the film to reach the West at all, but I quite honestly would have preferred if he had just stuck with Arab actors. Now the only copy I could find was the one with Western actors, and while they did their jobs admirably, it was still a bit odd to know that this probably wasn't the "definitive" version. Or at best, only half of it.
The film has bigger problem than that, however. And that is the Islamic tradition forbidding images of Muhammad being depicted in any shape or form. Meaning that this film doesn't have Muhammad in it. Sure, he's there, in many of the scenes, but he's not shown, nor is his voice heard. At best we see the scene as through his eyes, with people talking directly at him, i.e. the camera.
They also excluded many of the people closest to him. So the film doesn't have his wives, his daughters, his sons-in-law, nor a couple others of his close relatives. Take all those out and what's left is his uncle Hamza (Anthony Quinn in this version) and his adopted son Zayd (Damien Thomas) as the focus characters.
And I'm sorry, but that's a really awkward way of telling the story. Now it seems like Muhammad is a mute and people around him are putting words in his mouth. Because his character is not allowed to speak. It's like he's a figurehead of this new religion, a puppet on strings. That obviously wasn't the intention nor is it what actually happened, but that's the impression coming through the screen.
Plus it's at times pretty comical, which doesn't help.
The Message is not a bad historical epic. It has passion, it is interesting and the visuals are about as good as they could make them. But its innate limitations make it more than aggravating to watch from a practical point of view.