Analysis And Review Of The Movie May Allah Bless France
The movie I decided to watch for this is “May Allah Bless France” directed by Abd Al Malik. This movie covers the story of Régis Fayette-Mikano who is later known as Abd Al Malik. The story follows Régis from when his family moved back to France and he started working on his rap career. The movie shows several different aspects of Islam and how it adapts into modern society. There were several aspects of Islam that stood out to me throughout this movie, such as, the language they use, the way they discuss their faith, how their faith may or may not impact the choices they make, and how they are seen in society based on their faith. This was a really great movie, even if it was a bit slow at times, it shows a part of the world that we know exists but don't know a lot about. There is one thing I discovered while looking for a film to watch and base this paper on. What I found was very interesting and, although, it may not be surprising to some it was a shocking discovery for myself.
I looked for films about Islam and about Muslims using multiple different sources but there was one type, or genre, that was always present in the search results. The movie genre that I saw appear the most was war. No matter what words I put into the search bar, without fail, there were always war movies. I even started watching one that I thought would be useful to me, but after watching about forty minutes I realized it had nothing to do with Islam other than portraying Muslims as the enemy without even showing a person that could Goode 2 have been Muslim. Therefore, before I have even started watching a movie it is apparent to me that there is a very clear trend when it comes to films about the Islamic faith and Muslims. The first thing that stood out to me when I started watching “May Allah Bless France” was a phrase that came up a lot. The main characters were constantly saying the phrase, “I swear on the Koran. ” It does not seem like an uncommon occurrence to hear someone in daily life say, “I swear to God” but to hear someone say, “I swear on the Koran” seems strange. It does seem like a more respectful thing to say in the sense of religion but imagine if Christians said, “I swear on the Bible. ” I’m honestly not sure why this stood out to me so extremely, but it did. Based on the way it was used in the movie it does seem to have the same meaning as someone saying, “I swear to God, ” however, it also has the same connotation, meaning that it is not an actual swear but a way showing seriousness in what was said.
An aspect of Islam that stood out to me was the more traditional cloths that Muslims will sometimes wear. At one point in the movie we see Régis going through the last part of his conversion to Islam. Soon after we are following Régis and his friend Samir walking around their neighborhood in the traditional Muslim clothing. We then see Régis and Samir are talking to some other slightly older Muslim men about the fact that they are wearing the traditional cloths. They tell the two younger boys that the way they are approaching people may come on a bit too strong. The boys respond saying that they are dressed like the profit and they are peaceful. The idea of being like the profit is one we have discussed, and I did find it interesting that even in modern times being like Muhammad was the goal for the boys. However, the men then tell them that not everyone knows the profit and tell them to consider the state of the world. This stood out to me because this is applicable to all religions. When people are confronted with anyone who is very religious and attempting to convert people and spread their message they get Goode 3 put off. A similar, but far less drastic, case of this that comes to mind is when the people who preach outside of baker have their signs and yell about how gay people are bad and are going to hell. They put a lot of people off and because of their radicalism people who might agree with them will not likely join them out of fear of public ridicule. Régis and Samir are clearly not taking it nearly as far, however, that is the point that the two men are trying to make. The line that seems to have the most impact on the boys was, “where do you think God looks? The Lord looks in people’s hearts. ”
Another time when the way people view Muslims is shown in the movie is the article. When Régis is in the studio someone reads an article written about Régis and Samir. The article was extraordinarily heavy handed and portrayed Islam in a negative way. The article compares Islam to a weapon and refers to Régis and Samir as soldiers of Islam. The title of the article is, “A Social Bomb” which is an obviously referring to terrorism. Another line in the article refers to people converting to Islam as fanatic activism and the last line asks, “How can this social bomb be defused?” This article was purely an attempt to discredit Islam and even though it did not seem to bother them in the movie it most likely made an impact on the people who read it. Samir was an interesting character from my point of view. He is in a very rough situation where he is struggling to get by and when he has a chance to launch his rap career he decides that he wants out. He tells Régis that he feels like the music is against the law of Islam. The reason I find this very interesting is because Samir seems to be a Muslim throughout the entirety of the movie. Therefore, is it the death of his friends that made him take his religious beliefs more seriously or was he always this serious about his faith and it is finally beginning to bother him. Samir shows a very different perspective in this situation. In class we have talked about the different views of different groups of Islam and how they can be viewed as radical by some Goode 4 people. This is one instance that some people might view as radical, considering Samir does not like that he is making music which he sees as against Islam.
There was one line that struck me while watching this movie and it is one that seems to hold some truth in any religion. The line is from the book that Nawel gives Régis. When the two of them are eating together Régis brings it up and says, “… when you’ve hit bottom you’re truly ready to experience God. ” I have heard this idea many times in many different scenarios. It is when people feel that they have truly lost so much that religion seems to be the only thing they can turn to. The reason I point this out is because it is one of the first times I have heard it with someone turning to their Islamic faith. Even though I call this an idea, it clearly is useful to many people. Religion has saved may people from really bad situations and it is hard to deny that it has a way of helping people through tough times.
This movie was incredible to watch. It hits on so many different aspects that are involved with Islam and the way people in western countries view Islam. It also hits on social issues that are going on in the world today with drugs and violence. The story of Abd Al Malik is a very interesting one and it says a lot that he was able to direct this film about his early career and how his faith played a part in it.
