Stream it now The Message Reset Status Want to Watch Already Watched Don't Want to Watch

I had seen The Wannsee Conference and Fire once before. None of these blew me away, but it wasn't the hardest way to earn an A on my midterm. Although classroom desks and chairs suck to sit in for seven hours straight.

I need to find something to do. My life is definitely an online journal now :confused:

Message (1976) by Moustapha Akkad fails because it presents the story of Mohammed based upon hadeeth literature which is rife with fabrications and is unfortunately and to their detriment upheld as a second source of divine law.

The truth is that there is nothing divine about the hadeeth literature. They are the hearsay reports of people following the death of Mohammed and were compiled 200 to 250 years after the death of the prophet by a Persian man named Bukhari.

Unfortunately muslims have taken these tales as a second source of religion. The story one sees in Message (1976) is just that; a story version of the prophet's life (known as 'sira' in muslim terminology).

The second problem with the Message (1976) is it fails to show the character of Mohammed kowtowing to the sectarian views of certain muslims (especially Wahhabi; the sect predominating in the Saudi Arabian regime). In a sense this aversion to depicting Mohammed is misguided and there is really no good reason for it. Muslims who would be outraged by a depiction; even a cartoon, would not even blink an eyelid at depictions of Jesus, another prophet of Islam. Why?

Double standards, that's why. The muslim religion makes it clear that believers ought not make ANY differentiation or distinction between prophets. That they are equal and brought the message of monotheism to people. Yet in even this action this film shows how much the distinction is made and the failure to uphold the non-distinction command of the Koran.

The movie is made to good standards and can be considered an epic of moviemaking for its time. Just keep in mind that it's a version of the story that relies on fabricated hadeeths and sira stories.

The Message greatly explains the story of Prophet Mohammad(PBUH) without showing the prophet himself. The battle scenes are well directed. There is also a good potrayal of emotion. However, the worst problem of this film is that you must know the life of Prophet Mohammad(PBUH) before watching this film. The film has a great score by Maurice Jarre. Its beauty is not recognized except in the 1977 oscars when it was nominated for best score. Anthony Quinn gives a satisfactory performance.

The Message is a great and awesome example of epic film making. This is a really good film, one of my favorites actually. It portrays the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and manages to do that so well, despite showing his face! The material is taking from the Hadith, which outlines the life and the teachings of the Prophet, and with that material, they made a Muslim approved film.
The story is amazing here, and overall delivers into what is a superb film, which even with its faults, never manages to sway from that statement. Story: 10/10.

The Acting here is really good. All of the actors portray their roles in a somewhat Shakespearean manner and give a lot of poetic emphasis to it. The actors make every seen believable and often purvey emotions in an astounding manner. The drama here is made in a very compelling sense, which led me to feel quite immersed within these characters. They made me believe fully in the world of Arabia in that time. Overall, the acting is quite epic, although it may get boring occasionally. All in all, Acting: 9.6/10.

The music was totally impressive and it even got an Oscar nomination. So the music is obviously great. Music: 10/10.

But as for the faults of this film, I had a major issue with its time limit. I mean three and a half hours long?!! Sheesh, unless you have superb patience, you can't help but feel so agitated near the last hour and there was a moment where I thought that this film could not possibly be any longer. Overall, the timing was a major problem in this film and I really think it bogged, what could have been an amazingly spectacular film, down. Timing: 4.8/10.

All in all, I really loved this movie, but unfortunately, I was quite annoyed at the time limit which made it a major problem. Still, it's a worthy film to watch since it's epic, dramatic and entertaining. Overall: 8.7/10.

Great movie. I loved every minute. It received the blessings of Muslim officials from the University of Al Azhar.
The fact that there is no picturization of the Prophet s.a.w is a great thing because if you've seen the movie 'Ten Commandments' you may find yourself picturing Heston as the man who spoke to the burning bush. You won't be able to with this movie. The Prophet s.a.w is not shown but this does not distract from the quality of the movie.
The


The essential teaching from the film is repeated throughout "There is no god but God, and Mohammed is the Messenger."

Akkad's film focuses on the documented historical origins of Islam.

It starts with messengers splitting up to deliver the message of Islam to Egypt, Persia and Byzantium., straght after which the viewer is shown Mecca in 600 AD, when paganism is rife and women are disrespected. Trading is an integral part of this society. In Islamic terminology it is called 'Jahiliyyah' or 'The time of ignorance' when only materialism is seen as important.

Irene Papas plays a superb job as the hateful wife who orders an assassin and Anthony Quinn could not have been better cast.
It is 3 hours long and will revive your quest for knowledge. Highly recommended