Audiences enjoy ‘The Message’ after its long ban is lifted

The Message, Moustapha Akkad’s epic history of the birth of Islam, finally opened in UAE cinemas on Thursday after a 42-year ban across most of the Middle East.

The momentous occasion was certainly one for the region’s cinematic history books, although audiences at Mall of the Emirates’ midnight screening seemed largely oblivious to the occasion in which they were taking part.

For one, Lebanese marketing executive Samer, it was not the lifting of a ban that attracted him, but the modern technology. The movie has been meticulously restored into an ultra-HD 4K format by Akkad’s son, film producer Malek Akkad.

“I didn’t even know it was banned,” Samer said. “I’ve watched it on TV many times and it’s a great film with amazing shots of the desert, so I came down to see how it looked in 4K on the big screen. It was impressive.”

Ali was at yesterday morning’s Yas Mall screening in Abu Dhabi and was aware of the controversy surrounding the film on its release in 1976, when pressure from religious groups who felt the subject matter was too inflammatory to depict on screen led to the ban.

Ali hoped that the belated release was a sign of changing times in the region.

“I didn’t know there was an official ban but I remember it not being in cinemas in Egypt, where I was at the time,” he said. “I don’t understand why. It’s been shown on TV many times but I’m pleased that if there was a ban it’s gone now.

“There’s nothing wrong with the film. It doesn’t depict any religious figures.”

Mo, who watched the film in Dubai Mall, said that he had seen the English version as a youngster on TV.

But he said this was the first time he had seen the Arabic version. The film was shot with two different casts in Arabic and English as Akkad hoped to tell his story as widely as possible.

For Mo, both versions of the film contained a similar flaw: “I don’t know, maybe if you’re going to make a film about people you can’t actually show, you just shouldn’t make the film? I’m not really qualified to comment but the same was true for me of the Arabic version here.”

The Message cleared the regulatory hurdles that plagued it in 1976, but it still faced challenges. It came out in Eid, and had to compete against the opening night of the Fifa World Cup.

The small audiences at the screenings The National attended suggest that the choice of day for the premiere may have taken a toll.

But the film is still banned in Kuwai after a last-minute decision by the Ministry of Information to block its release. Front Row said it had resubmitted the film to Kuwaiti authorities.