By Ciar Byrne for the Independent:
Western documentary makers should think twice about making films about Islam because they do not understand the issues as well as their Muslim counterparts, a leading Muslim film-maker has said.
Now why didn't somebody explain this to me back in 2004 and save me all that trouble?
Parvez Sharma, whose documentary about what it means to be gay and Muslim had its European premiere at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival last night, said Western non-Muslim film makers were jumping on the "Islamic bandwagon".Sharma added: "Post 11 September, [Islam] is suddenly very hot", and he cited the "plane-loads" of documentary makers who flew from New York to Afghanistan after the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
Didn't make that flight. Read the Quran, Bukhari's hadiths, and the Sira instead. Most illuminating. Would recommend it. And more convenient than trekking to Kabul. Less shrapnel.
"For many documentary film-makers there's very little understanding of the complexities. Everyone has been jumping on the Islamic bandwagon. Very few of those films do justice [to Islam]. They suffer from a lack of comprehension. There's this need to cash in on the Islamic theme."
Not too familiar with that "cash in" part, but I do agree that there is little understanding. Take that silly Empire of Faith, for instance, or Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet. Worst comedies I've seen in years. Islam: What the West Needs to Know, on the other hand: HILARIOUS.
Sharma, whose documentary, A Jihad For Love includes emotional interviews with gay Muslims from around the world, torn between their homosexuality and their faith, said there was a "paucity" of Muslim film-makers and called on Islamic documentary producers to make their own voices heard to combat Islamaphobia. His Jihad, filmed over six years, reveals the often shocking treatment meted out to homosexuals in Islamic states such as Iran, where one of the men featured was flogged for attending a gay party, and in Egypt, where another interviewee was thrown into prison, where he was raped, then fled to France.
Now -- just thinking aloud here -- but maybe the guy who was flogged and the rape victim could be excused for indulging in a little "Islamaphobia?"
How can any man get raped in a Muslim prison? I thought homosexuality was an affront to Allah.
But the Muslims were pretty happy when "Kingdom of Heaven" was released.
couldn it be that Western filmmakers in a lot of cases are telling truths that the Muslims do not want the West to learn before it's too late
Just name the last Hollywood movie where Muslims were the bad guy and didnt also portray the West as bad?
"His Jihad, filmed over six years, reveals the often shocking treatment meted out to homosexuals in Islamic states such as Iran, where one of the men featured was flogged for attending a gay party"
Stop the Presses! He must be lying. There are no gays in Iran. Achmedinijad said so!
Mohammedans should stop making pronouncements about the West.
They don't understand the complexities and nuances.
================
It really is quite amazing how flim-flam operators are always going on about complexities and nuances.
Anything to distract people from the obvious and self-evident reality.
"Mohammedans should stop making pronouncements about the West.
They don't understand the complexities and nuances."
I couldn't have said it better.
Would those idiots on the political Left (or even the "Queers for Palestine" group, affiliated with "Turkeys for Christmas") who shriek "bigot" at any Christian leader who is not wildly enthusiastic aboy gay marriage, like to comment on this film and it's depiction of how gays are murdered, flogged and imprisoned in the islamic world?
When I have raised the issue of islam's barbaric treatment of gays with these idiots, the usual reply is to blame it on Britain's colonial laws from the 19th century!
This is how they delude themselves.
Celsius,
Well they do invoke 19th century British Colonial law in Iran everytime they hang homosexuals.
/Sarc
"Parvez Sharma, whose documentary about what it means to be gay and Muslim had its European premiere at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival last night, said Western non-Muslim film makers were jumping on the "Islamic bandwagon"."
no comment.
"Would those idiots on the political Left (or even the "Queers for Palestine" group, affiliated with "Turkeys for Christmas") who shriek "bigot" at any Christian leader who is not wildly enthusiastic aboy gay marriage, like to comment on this film and it's depiction of how gays are murdered, flogged and imprisoned in the islamic world?"
I suppose I am one of the "idiots" you mention, since I am both on the left and am contemptuous of homophobes. I've commented plenty of times on the deplorable treatment meted out to homosexuals in Islamic countries (though Mahmoud "There Are No Gays In Iran" Ahmadinejad clearly holds a vastly different opinion). I do my best not to generalize, but it must be admitted that the vast majority of homophobes in the US are to be found not on the left, but on the right. The vast majority of gay crimes occur in Red states. Does this mean that all conservatives are homophobes? By no means--Giuliani, for instance, and many others. (I got beef with Guiliani, but not over this issue). But on the whole, conservatives are far more likely to dislike gays.
Of course, there's a difference between disliking them and killing them (as under Islam).
I think every film about Islam made by islamists should have a warning when it ends that the film is going to explode in 5 seconds.
Greetings:
And there is a difference between diapproving of homosexual behavior and politics and disliking "gays" (heterophobes?).
"Very few of those films do justice [to Islam]. They suffer from a lack of comprehension."
quote from Parvez Sharma, in the posting
Yes, they don't comprehend just how bad Islam really is; no matter how bad they make it in their films, the reality is always worse. It's hard to "do justice" to Islam, when there is so little justice in Islam.
Film is an effective means of communication. Someone should create and produce an autobiographical film on Mohammed, without pulling any punches, and distribute it. Oh wait a minute. Can't do that. There would be threats of violence and the film would be pulled. Maybe producers see films in the standard politically correct format as a safer bet.
In fact, I remember there was going to be a film on Mohammed distributed about 30 years ago, give or take 10 years, and the film was pulled due to complaints and threats from Islamists that Mohammed should never be portrayed. This film was pulled back when Muslims were a much smaller demographic minority than they are today. Does anybody remember more details on that? I wonder whatever happened to that film? Anybody know?
Seriously, a series of films using professional actors and actresses should be professionally produced in DVD format (and distributed by direct mail to avoid the threats of jihadists in movie theatres), showing Mohammed and the early Islamic expansion. The films should be entertaining enough to draw a substantial audience of viewers, but should also be historically factual and informative. It should show Mohammed's early years, consolidation of power, camel caravan raids, slave capturing, child-bride wedding, poet-killing, beheadings and the whole business. Does anybody out there know a producer with courage and the ability to take this on? Maybe Mel Gibson?
Yes, Westerners should quit making films about Islamania. We've had enough of the "religion of peace" baloney already.
Inside of the beltway, as well as in California, I have met gays who identify themselves as Moslem. They seem to be either to be in denial about the true nature of Islam and its stances on homosexuality or they believe that lack of acceptance is simply overstated by the media. They claim lack of acceptance is a consequence of a “few extremists”. They tell me nothing new: That homosexuality is extraordinarily taboo in Islamic counties, but pervasive. Most of them seem to have forsaken Islam but hold on to aspects for cultural identification purposes only. One I know is in extreme turmoil and appears to be become almost psychotic due to his internalized guilt. All are deeply closeted and inform me that their parents could “never accept such a thing”; that a Westerner could never understand that. Rubbish.
"There's this need to cash in on the Islamic theme."
Actually, there's this need to flush the Islamic theme down the commode and get back to the basics of living. Alas, aggressive Muslims with an agenda will not allow peace and prosperity to get in the way of taking over and making everybody miserable. Hence, we fight on.
How can any man get raped in a Muslim prison? I thought homosexuality was an affront to Allah.
Posted by: aynrandgirl
I'm not sure if your question was rhetorical or not, but just in case it wasn't--rape is still rape, even if it is performed with a foreign object. Given that homosexuality is such an abomination in Islam, it seems likely that the gay prisoner was raped in that manner.
Now, my question-- What is all the excitement about having beautiful boys in Paradise? I can't quite figure out why homosexuality is a no-no on earth, but would be allowed in Mohammedan "heaven".
OT - Here's something to make you laugh.
Islamofashion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKIgzScJ1WU&eurl=http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/
Funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKIgzScJ1WU&eurl=http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/
Try again!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKIgzScJ1WU&eurl=http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com
Sorry about that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKIgzScJ1WU
Theo Van Gogh had an answer to this threat.
"Go have connubial relations with a goat."
This was not taken well.
Now -- just thinking aloud here -- but maybe the guy who was flogged and the rape victim could be excused for indulging in a little "Islamaphobia?"
He can't be THAT Islamophobic. He is, after all, still a Muslim.
We don't have to make films about Islam, as such.
What we need are epic, well-researched films about the heroes of the long resistance to Islam, both Western and Eastern. Awhile ago someone here mentioned that the Poles were making a film about the 1683 rescue of Vienna, entitled Viktoria - the byline is 'we came, we saw, and God had the victory'.
Well, there are so many more stories that could be told.
Where can we find directors and actors with the courage and vision to make a series called Lan Astaslem, hitting some of the high points, the victories and the tragic defeats?
The Jewish men of the Banu Qurayza, who died kiddush haShem refusing to submit to Islam.
The heroic losing battles of the Christian, pagan and Jewish chieftains of North Africa.
Poitiers/ Tours 732 and Charles the Hammer.
An accurate account of the life of Maimonides, as an expose of dhimmitude - the constant insecurity, hunted from pillar to post.
The Crusades - with the truth, that they were called in self-defence after centuries of unprovoked Muslim assault.
The Martyrs of Otranto.
The Knights of St John, and the defence of Malta.
The Battle of Lepanto.
The defence of Byzantium in the 9th century (when, it is said, Mary Mother of God spread out her mantle over the city to protect it). The fall of Byzantium in 1453 - "The Last Day of the World".
The alliance of the Portuguese with the Ethiopians against Islam; and again, with the Thais in south-east Asia, same deal.
Stories from the reconquista of Sicily, Portugal, Spain, and then the Balkans, Greece and Bulgaria; stories from southern Russia; stories from India's long agony, the heroism of the Rajputs and the Sikhs; and I'll bet the Ethiopians have their heroes, too.
The USA vs the Barbary Pirates - between Jefferson and J Q Adams and the rest, there are some terrific lines begging to be declaimed on screen. "We should not fight them at all unless we are willing to fight them for ever".
Indian posters - are there any Indian film-makers who have honestly tackled the horrors of the centuries-long gang rape of India by the Muslims, and the Indian resistance to it?
How about a film based on Churchill's The River War?
Stories from survivors of the massacre of the Armenians.
And Israel, of course: the defeat and expulsion of the Ottomans by Chauvel and Allenby in 1917; perfidious Albion; Orde Wingate; 1948; 1950s; 1967; 1973. Lebanon, and the destruction of the PLO's School for Terror in Beirut. Who will dare to represent in detail, and PRAISE the courage of the Israelis during the season of the suicide murderers?
So many of these stories, if properly researched and well told, sticking strictly to the known facts, would make powerful cinema.
I understand that once, when a mad Muslim ruler of 'Palestine' proposed to kill every Jew and Christian in that region, he was stopped from doing so by the then Abyssinian/Ethiopian king, who issued an ultimatum: if you do what you propose, I will give the order to kill every Muslim and destroy every mosque within MY domains. The Muslim ruler backed down. Now THERE'S a plot for a movie...
Please. Somebody reading this MUST have contacts in the movie industry. Be a hero and tell the truth on the big screen, to educate us all. And when you do, make sure you show us, behind the battle lines, what it was that people were fighting for - the music, the art, the sculpture, the unveiled women, the scholarship, the monuments, all the beauty and glory of the non-muslim civilisations that Islam was assailing and trying to devour and destroy. Rejoice for what was saved. Mourn what was annihilated when the defenders failed and fell.
Dumbledoresarmy, you have some great ideas for films. A corporation should be formed by like-minded people to make these productions and provide some balance to the film industry.
So, we should never have had shows like Hogans Heros or any movies showing Nazi Germans, because only 'Nazi Germans would understand issues as well as their Nazi counterparts'.
"So, we should never have had shows like Hogans Heros or any movies showing Nazi Germans, because only 'Nazi Germans would understand issues as well as their Nazi counterparts'."
Posted by - Alaskan1000
I knowm it kills ya doesnt it. I mean if you made the above statement, or any other statement regarding ANY other group (hispanics, blacks, jews, hindus, Malaysians), whatever sort of group you could think of....people would fall over laughing. But when this sort of garbage is spoken by a "Muslim" film director, no one questions the logic. But one question for Sharma. Is there ANY Muslim country on the planet that you could make such a film??? Anywhere??? Im waiting???
I thought so. Guests should always be gracious with that which their hosts offer them.
"Westerners 'should stop making films about Islam'"
...Muslim countries should do the same and be the first to set an example....
The more we are told to stop making documentaries about Islam, the more urgently we need to continue doing so!