[Dhaka Tribune] A film on the life of Prophet Mohammad (Salaami salaami Baloney!) is expected to break box office records in Shia-majority Iran after its release last week, but some Sunni Moslem holy mans in the Arab world are demanding that Tehran ban it.The state-sponsored "Mohammad, Messenger of God (Salaami salaami Baloney!) ," directed by Oscar-nominated director Majid Majidi, is at $40m, Iran's most expensive movie to date.
"I decided to make this film to fight against the new wave of Islamophobia
...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do...
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 (Salaami salaami Baloney!) 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 (Salaami salaami Baloney!) point of view by the movie's Oscar-winning Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro. The identity of the boy playing Mohammad (Salaami salaami Baloney!) has not been made public.
He must be killed!
Egypt's Al-Azhar, one of the most prestigious Sunni institute, 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 (Salaami salaami Baloney!) ," said Professor Abdel Fattah Alawari, dean of the Islamic theology faculty at Al-Azhar.
"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 womaniser ... and then he embodies a prophet ... this is not permissible."