{"id":365,"date":"2009-02-07T20:35:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-07T20:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2009\/02\/the-resurrected-an-arabic-jesus-movie\/"},"modified":"2009-02-07T20:35:00","modified_gmt":"2009-02-07T20:35:00","slug":"the-resurrected-an-arabic-jesus-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2009\/02\/the-resurrected-an-arabic-jesus-movie.html","title":{"rendered":"The Resurrected — an Arabic Jesus movie"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Three years ago<\/a>, I mentioned that a Coptic Orthodox Christian screenwriter and a Muslim movie producer in Egypt were hoping to make the first Arabic movie about the life of Jesus. The project stirred up a fair bit of controversy, though, due to the fact that Sunni Islam forbids any depiction of the prophets, and I have heard nothing about that film\u2019s development since.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, however, another group of filmmakers are on the verge of making an Arabic film about Jesus \u2014 and this time, they are based in Lebanon. Variety<\/a><\/i> reports:<\/p>\n

The first Arab feature film about Jesus Christ is about to see the light of day.<\/p>\n

Lebanese exhibition and production shingles Eagle Pictures and the Marwa Group are making \u201cThe Resurrected,\u201d a $2 million biopic of the life of Jesus.<\/p>\n

Production is set to begin in the summer with a Middle Eastern theatrical release set for Easter 2010.<\/p>\n

Lebanese helmer Samir Habchi<\/a> (\u201cBeirut Open City\u201d) is in negotiations to direct the project, while thesp Youssef Al-Khal is set to play the Messiah.<\/p>\n

Project will depict Jesus\u2019 life in flashbacks and be seen from the perspective of Mary Magdelene, who will be played by Nadine Al-Rassi.<\/p>\n

Pic will focus on the redemptive nature of Jesus\u2019 message. The producers will be taking elements from all four Gospels.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a real attempt to go back to the mutual respect which existed between Christians, Muslims and Jews in this region for centuries,\u201d said Eagle topper Jamal Al-Sharif. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen films about Jesus from the West but there has never been an Arabic production about him despite the fact that he came from here.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Iranian telepic \u201cJesus, Spirit of God<\/a>,\u201d was made last year but this is the first time an Arabic project has been put together.<\/p>\n

Mel Gibson\u2019s \u201cThe Passion<\/a>\u201d was a huge hit in the Arab world when it was released, particularly in Lebanon where there is a large Christian population. Authorities in the United Arab Emirates even changed the law forbidding the depiction of prophets to allow for the film\u2019s theatrical release there.<\/p>\n

Producers will be lensing on location in many of the sites where Jesus is believed to have visited, including Qana<\/a> and Tyre<\/a> in South Lebanon. They are also hoping to lense in the towns of cities of Nazareth and Bethlehem, although that will be dependent on the political situation there.<\/p>\n

Eagle and Marwa execs have put together a $50 million fund drawn from private Arab investors to help turn Lebanon into a production powerhouse. While the country has a long history of TV and film producing expertise, it has long been hampered by political instability.<\/p>\n

The two companies have already started production on romantic comedy \u201cLarita and Aziz,\u201d featuring local stars George Khabbaz and Rita Barsoum. Eagle and Marwa also have three Ramadan TV skeins set to go into production in time for delivery this year.<\/p>\n

Al-Sharif is hoping \u201cThe Resurrected\u201d can help bring Lebanon\u2019s divided factions together. He has received the official blessing for the production from Lebanon\u2019s Maronite Christian Patriarch<\/a>, while the country\u2019s prexy and speaker of parliament have both pledged to attend its Beirut preem next year.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It sounds<\/i> like the company behind the film is not tied to any particular religion \u2014 note the reference to their Ramadan programming \u2014 but the references to the gospels, the approval of the local Christian patriarch, and indeed the movie\u2019s title itself all suggest that the film will reflect a basically Christian point of view. (Muslims do not believe that Jesus died, so they presumably would not believe in his resurrection \u2014 though they do believe that he ascended, albeit without dying, kind of like Elijah.)<\/p>\n

Still, it could be interesting to see if any Muslim ideas about the life of Jesus make their way into the script, kind of like how the depiction of Mary in the American TV-movie Mary and Joseph: A Story of Faith<\/i> (1979) borrowed elements from the story of Hagar in Genesis, just as the Koran\u2019s depiction of Mary does. (I don\u2019t know for a fact that the TV-movie got this idea from the Koran \u2014 they may have come up with it on their own \u2014 but that\u2019s the sort of borrowing from other texts that I\u2019d be looking for.)<\/p>\n

It should also be interesting to see how this film handles Jesus\u2019 visit to Tyre, since the main thing the gospels tell us about his visit there is that he resisted helping a Canaanite woman, and indeed he suggested that she and her kind were \u201cdogs\u201d, until she made a humble and somewhat clever reply to his remark.<\/p>\n

Some theologians say Jesus always meant to help this woman but was testing her resolve, while others say this story shows how even Jesus was capable of changing his mind and \u201clearning\u201d from other people. Either way, for a film that wants to hark back to an earlier era of \u201cmutual respect\u201d between religions and cultures in that region, this episode could<\/i> take on new meaning.<\/p>\n

At any rate, this all sounds very interesting, and I definitely look forward to seeing the film, if it ever comes this way.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three years ago, I mentioned that a Coptic Orthodox Christian screenwriter and a Muslim movie producer in Egypt were hoping to make the first Arabic movie about the life of Jesus. The project stirred up a fair bit of controversy, though, due to the fact that Sunni Islam forbids any depiction of the prophets, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Resurrected -- an Arabic Jesus movie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Three years ago, I mentioned that a Coptic Orthodox Christian screenwriter and a Muslim movie producer in Egypt were hoping to make the first Arabic movie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2009\/02\/the-resurrected-an-arabic-jesus-movie.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Resurrected -- an Arabic Jesus movie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Three years ago, I mentioned that a Coptic Orthodox Christian screenwriter and a Muslim movie producer in Egypt were hoping to make the first Arabic movie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2009\/02\/the-resurrected-an-arabic-jesus-movie.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-02-07T20:35:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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