With
additional reporting by Riyadh Abu-Awad, IOL correspondent
CAIRO,
October 10 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Some critics and
journalists expressed their disappointment Tuesday, October 8, after
attending the private viewing of the cartoon movie “Mohamed The Last
Prophet” because the movie was selective in the issues tackled.
Criticism
included that the movie talked about specific incidents of the
Prophet’s (peace be upon him) life ignoring other significant major
events, especially the Prophet’s (pbuh) struggle with the Jews, in
addition to lacking the attractive style that should exist in movies
made for children.
The
film features Muhammad (the last prophet) (peace be upon him) visage,
journey, how people started to join Islam, and the immigration to
Makkah.
It
also selected other events, such as the torture Muslims faced, the
immigration to Ethiopia and the Prophet’s (pbuh) immigration to
Yathrib (Medinah). The movie also tackles the events of the battles of
Badr, Uhud and Al-Khandaq that took place between Muslims and
non-believers.
However,
the movie ignores important events such as the struggle between Muslims
and Jews, leading many critics to say that it is deliberately ignored
due to political considerations as the film producers wanted to avoid
any political problems that may occur in case this struggle was
mentioned.
“The
movie is below any expectations and full of political problems, one of
them is the total ignorance of the struggle of the first Muslims with
the Jews and the Prophet’s battles against them in Madinah," said
Ashrah El Bayoumi, a critic.
He
added that it is impossible to talk about the life of Prophet Muhammad
(pbuh) without mentioning the struggle against the Jews, the second
force after the infidels of Makkah in their animosity to the Prophet’s
(pbuh) message, as well as their role in the attempt to suppress it,
especially in its early phases in Madinah.
On
the other hand, Ali Mohieb, a movie director, said he sympathizes with
the producers of the movie as they are exerting a remarkable effort, he
said, adding that ignoring the part related to Jews may be because the
producing company wanted to “save its money” and guarantee that the
English version of the movie will be allowed in western markets.
Answering
these criticism, Mowafak El-Harthy, the Saudi head of the producing
company Badr, said that critics should not turn the movie into a
political issue.
The
Badr company has prepared two versions of the movie, one in Arabic and
the other in English and it had received the approval of Al-Azhar before
shooting the movie the scenario of which is written by Bryan Nisseen, an
American writer.
The
director of the film, Richard Rich, is a well-known American director
who worked for Disney.
This
film is one of four series. The other series feature the conquering of
Makkah, and most important Muslim women, in addition to the Islamic
battles.
The
film also was criticized, by Ferial Kamel, director, for not
successfully featuring the Arab character, especially in the way of
talking and dressing.
“These
mistakes in the movie happened because the movie producers mainly depend
on Americans, ignoring the fact that they should have hired Arab
experts, especially that we do have many of them in this area and some
of them even work with Disney,” said Mohamed Salah Eldin, a movie
critic.
