Freedom of expression?

The Lady of Heaven (2021)

Directed by Eli King (pseudonym)

When a controversial figure like Sheikh Yasser Al-Habib writes the script of a movie, one can be pretty sure that it will kick up some dirt. Just for the record, Al-Habib, a Kuwaiti Shia cleric, was imprisoned in Kuwait for 35 years when he insulted the companions of the Prophet back in the early 2000s. After obtaining a royal pardon from the Emir of Kuwait, he resided in the UK. He lost his Kuwaiti citizenship in 2004 when he stated in his speeches that the Prophet died not because of an ailment but after being poisoned by His wives! Al-Habib apparently has made a hobby out of insulting Sunnis.

In the UK, he continues his controversial stance and has been accused of being a divisive figure and one-minded in creating a rift between the Shia and Sunni denominations of Islam. As a head of the Shia community, he regularly appears in the media for all the wrong reasons accentuating the Shia-Sunni divide.

This movie is pregnant with so many points that beg to be picked up by detractors as offensive. No one gets away depicting Islamic holy figures in flesh and bones and gets away scot-free; what more if it is the Prophet and his daughter Fatima. The filmmakers got around it by using CGI and light deception for this purpose.

We know that the Shia-Sunni divisions started as early as when the Prophet was on his deathbed. The selection of His successor was the bone of contention. Ali, Fatima's husband, was apparently favoured by the Prophet but His tribe members felt someone from the tribe should continue the Caliphate duties.

That is where things get murky. Both denominations have their own version of what actually transpired at that time. To tell stories of a dark-skinned mob, who eventually became Sunnis, waiting to burn down the house occupied by Ali and Lady Fatima is just too much for the Ummah to stomach.

To further fuel, the anger is the comparison of the ISIS mob in Mosul during the Iraqi invasion of 2014 to the time surrounding the Prophet's succession. The film compares the pioneers of the Sunni sect as one-minded, aggressive and as resolved as the ISIS men in creating mayhem. The narration tends to imply that the first Islamic terrorism started way back in the 7th century! Lady Fatima was its first victim.

The story is told from the perspective of the Shias on the turn of events around the Prophet's death, but it ended up hurting the sentiments on both sides. It equated the Abu Bakr and Umar (Sunnis) to the dark-skinned Arabs, while the Ali and the Shias were fair-skinned, stirring up racial sentiments.

Muslims worldwide have condemned this movie for spreading false information about the religion. Widespread demonstrations in the UK prompted cinema halls to cancel this film's screening, fearing their staff's safety. Morocco, Egypt, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq denounced the flick as blasphemous and banned it in their countries.

It narrates the tale of Lalith, a young Iraqi boy whose mother was killed by ISIS soldiers. He is picked up by an Iraqi soldier. The soldier's mother nurtures him to escape his PTSD by telling him the story of Prophet Mohamad's daughter, Lady Fatima, who sailed through her difficult times with patience and calmness. A mob was outside her house, threatening to burn her house and demanding for her husband, Ali, who was earmarked to continue the Prophet's journey.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Fiction that angered many!

Alert: Sensitive topic, readers' discretion advised!

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

The more you suppress something, the more people want of, e.g. the plunging of the cleavage! Once it is in the open, the more people will shy away but then some people would swear that something are better left to imagination so that the discovery would all be worth it!

Just like that, the curiosity in me wanted be to view and judge for myself the film banned in many countries including Malaysia and Singapore -The Last Temptation of Christ. 

The movie can be roughly divided to 2 parts - the first being His revelation of being the Son of God and the second (which is the one angered most believers) which is the purely fictitious part.

Jesus, a carpenter, is collaborating to make cross for the Romans much to the chagrin of the Jewish people including his friend, Judas. He has these pains and voices in his head that keep on coming and irritating him.  He tries fasting, whipping himself but in vain. He is convinced it is God talking to him. He is not interested but wants to be left like everybody else. He wants somebody else to be The One. He decides to goes a wandering to find peace but not before bidding farewell to his childhood friend who had feelings for him (and vice-versa), now a prostitute, Mary Magdalene.

After some soul searching about his fears and low self esteem, he is told to return to spread The Word of God. Along comes Judas to kill him but instead becomes his follower. Then He sees Mary Magdalene being stoned for working on Sabbath. He stops the mob with the all famous phrase (slightly altered), "he who had not sinned cast the first stone...".

Then he starts his preaches about love and the number of disciples grow bigger. They form the newest radicals who are out to challenge the practice of the people of the day and the rule of the Romans.
After his baptism and self discovery in the desert again, Jesus managed to control his temptations from Satan. On his return, he goes on a rampage of miracle of healing the blind and raising the death. He then goes for the jugular, to take over Jerusalem. After a failed attempt to take a temple, he confides in Judas to inform his whereabouts to the Romans as his calling called him to die on the cross. After the Last Supper, He is caught and is crucified. His followers run into hiding.

While dying on the cross, a little girl emerges to claim to be his guardian angel to release him from the cross. She leads him to a wedding procession where he is to be wed to Mary Magdalene. The consummation results in a pregnant Magdalene who unfortunately dies suddenly with the baby in situ. 

A devastated Jesus is coaxed by the guardian angel to marry (cohabitate) Lazarus' sisters, Mary and Martha and has many children with them. Jesus grows old feeling happy thinking that this is how one finds God, through family life and children. During one of the family outings, he overhears a preacher preaching about Jesus and resurrection. Jesus about everything but the preacher insists that that type of talk gives hope to the people.

Jesus grows old as Jerusalem is engulfed with raging fire. On his death bed his disciples drop in. They were infuriated with Him for being a coward running from the cross and the rest of them had to do the dirty job of fighting the Roman. They show Him that He had indeed fallen for Satan's temptation and the guardian angel was no guardian angel but a manifestation of Satan himself.
Jesus pleads to God for forgiveness for failing in his duty and pleaded for Him to be brought back to the cross. And He did...
I can understand the discomfort felt by the puritans. Putting artistic expressions aside, the story tellers were just testing the waters by humanizing the Son of God - making him appear delusional both auditory and visual in nature, feeling frustrated for this disturbing feeling, working for God's enemy (Romans) with the hope that He would be not chosen for God's job, depiction of him as a fire brand youth indulging in worldly activities, fearful of relationships with persons of the weaker sex and even seen kissing men in a few scenes.
From a purely artistic point of view, Daniel Dafoe gave a true life like image of what the modern world expects Jesus to look like even archaeologically he is said to have more Negroides features. Martin Scorsee, being the master director he is did not disappoint in this outing.