Sunnis upset at new Iranian film about Mohammed

From Reuters:

A film on the life of Prophet Mohammad is expected to break box office records in Shi'ite Muslim Iran after its release on Thursday, but some Sunni Muslim clerics in the Arab world are already demanding that Tehran ban it.

The state-sponsored "Mohammad, Messenger of God", directed by Oscar-nominated director Majid Majidi, is at $40 million Iran's most expensive movie to date.

"I decided to make this film to fight against the new wave of Islamophobia in the West. The Western interpretation of Islam is full of violence and terrorism," Majidi was quoted as saying by Hezbollah Line, a conservative Iranian magazine.

The 171-minute movie, the first part of a planned trilogy, focuses on the prophet's childhood. His face will not be shown on screen, in accordance with traditional Islamic strictures. The camera shows the boy actor playing him only from behind, or only his shadow.

A steadicam was customised especially to depict Mohammad's point of view by the movie's Oscar-winning Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro. The identity of the boy playing Mohammad has not been made public.

Egypt's Al-Azhar, the most prestigious institute of Sunni Islam, is not satisfied with such precautions and has called on Iran to ban the film.

"This matter is already settled. Sharia (Islamic law) prohibits embodying the prophets," Al-Azhar told Reuters in a statement.

"It is not permissible in Islam that someone (an actor) has contradictory and conflicting roles; sometimes we see him as a blind drunk, sometimes as a womanizer ... and then he embodies a prophet ... this is not permissible."

..."Mohammad, Messenger of God" is only the second full-length movie drama on the prophet. The first, "The Message" (1976), was directed by Syrian Moustapha al-Akkad. Anthony Quinn played Mohammad's uncle, Hamza.

That film did not depict Mohammad's face on screen, but some Muslims were offended. Akkad was killed in a 2005 suicide bombing in Amman. It is not known whether the attack was related to the movie.

This is going to be interesting.

The kid who played Mohammed should be very afraid.