Turin- “In a first of its kind, the historical film ‘The Message’, by Syrian director Mustafa Akkad, is being shown in Italy, translated into Italian,” commented Luca Patrice, a historian specializing in Islam, speaking before the screening of the film, organized by the National Cinema Museum, based in Turin, in cooperation with the University of Turin.
The Italian audience, from various categories, was treated to the Arabic version of the film The Message (1976), accompanied by a translation into Italian completed by students from the University of Turin.
Because this film has a historical specificity in terms of its content and production process, the organizers decided – unusually – to devote an extensive discussion before the screening, to cover the director’s biography and the circumstances and stages of filming “The Message” between Morocco and Libya.
Thus the Italian scene was prepared, placed in the context and plot of a religious film about Islam, and prepared for viewing in the Massimo Hall of the National Film Museum.
The production story of the film Al-Resala
The film “The Message” by director Mustafa Akkad (of Syrian origins) represents the first attempt to transfer the life of the Prophet Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace) and the history of the origins of Islam to the big screen, as described by Patrizi, a historian and professor at the University of Turin, while presenting the film.
The speaker noted the genius of Akkad, who became known in the Hollywood film industry, curiously, thanks to his role as producer of the “Halloween” horror film series. Thus, it is not strange that the film “The Message” evokes the atmosphere of religious classics, such as “The Ten Commandments” (1956) and films that revolve around Its events take place in the desert, such as “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962).
The most daring bet made by Al-Akkad was to adopt a clever cinematic trick to avoid direct representation of the Prophet and the main characters in the first Islamic story, without conflicting with religious principles, according to Patrice’s explanation.
Related Post
The same speaker touched on another major challenge faced by the message’s author, which was reconciling the different trends within Islam, which led to facing serious political problems that led to the suspension of funding.
Reasons for translating the message
After finishing watching the film The Message, Luca Patrizzi, a professor specializing in the history of Islam at the University of Turin, confirmed in an interview with Al Jazeera Net the reasons and circumstances of translating this famous cinematic work, which is linked to the teaching program for the Master of Religious Sciences and Cultural Mediation, which is supervised by the Faculty of Law.
He explained, “In addition to the lessons, there are also parallel skills activities, as we and other colleagues proposed organizing a series of religious film screenings, as I was among the organizers and among the people who presented one of these films. Since I am a specialist in Islam, this is perhaps the most important film.” “And the most famous in Islamic religious cinema.”
Film Lost in the West
Luca Patrizzi added after watching the Arabic version, “I see that it has not lost any of its quality, while the English version in which Anthony Quinn acted has become somewhat old, while the Arabic version still completely maintains its quality. From a cinematic standpoint Yes, I find it an amazing movie Indeed, he did not receive sufficient appreciation in the history of cinema.”
The speaker explained that translating the film into Italian and displaying the Arabic version of the message was framed by him for his students for an educational purpose as an exercise. “We wanted to show the Arabic version, because I thought that there were some students who were studying Arabic who would come to practice listening to the Arabic language spoken in the film.”
The message in the time of the right
In response to the question of whether the film “The Message” was shown during the time of the right-wing government, whether it received reservations from any party, Luca Patrits said, “It is just a film. There cannot be anything against showing the film,” and he pointed out that this is a positive point.
Commenting on the timing of the film’s showing during a period witnessing “cultural conflict” between some peoples and communities in the West, he said, “The conflict has always existed since the Middle Ages and between different worlds, so this is not a new issue. Of course, we live in a more complex time in terms of political, but we seek to build bridges of communication between cultures, and this is what we do continuously at the university.”
Italian interaction with the film
On the other hand, Claudia Maria Tresso, professor of Arabic language and literature at the University of Turin, said during her conversation with Al Jazeera Net after watching the film, “I was aware of the existence of this film and I think it is very important to publish it, especially in the Arabic language. There are great personalities who contributed to inspiring Great religions, including the story of the Prophet Muhammad, which is unfortunately not well known in Italy, so I think the film is interesting and can be useful for everyone who has an open mind and wants to learn about others, and it also provides deep content about the essence of the Islamic message.”
The screening of the film witnessed a remarkable attendance of students, including student Leonardo Dovidio, who told Al Jazeera Net: “I liked the film very much. Personally, for a 3-hour cinematic work, I thought it would be heavy, but it attracted me very much, especially with learning some Arabic words.”
Student Emma Gardini also expressed her admiration for the film, saying: “I found the film very interesting in terms of subject matter and linguistic aspect, as my colleague Leonardo pointed out. I tried to understand some words in Arabic while I focused on the translation. I consider this cinematic work, despite its length, to be very deep and interesting.” “.
As for Antonella Campia, one of the Italian citizens who watched the film and gave her testimony to Al Jazeera Net, she expressed her admiration by saying: “I loved the film very much, and I think that it has wonderful quality, despite being an old film. In fact, I believe that its value doubles in this historical time, It allows us to see the origins of true Islam, untainted by the distortions that unfortunately occurred later.”
Antonella added that watching the film in the original language is a unique and more attractive opportunity compared to the English version. She said, “The film brings back to us the true meaning of Islam. It is also a wonderful work from the aesthetic aspect of the images, and this is well known, and the effects it provides make it one of the films that leaves you in a state of true astonishment.”
