The nations of the Middle East have been an epicenter of cinematic innovation since the early ’70s, and in recent years, master filmmakers such as Abbas Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi, and Mohsen Makhmalbaf have catapulted Iran in particular to the global stage. As recently as 2012, Haifaa al-Mansour made history by directing Wadjda, the first film to be produced and filmed entirely in Saudi Arabia. But even as the cinema of the Middle East has evolved by leaps and bounds, one area has remained firmly outside of the region’s purview, until now.
The Dubai-produced, English-language Bilal is the first animated film to emerge from the Middle East. Featuring the voices of Trumbo and Suicide Squad‘s Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jacob Latimore of The Maze Runner franchise, and Ian McShane, the fantasy film tells the story of Islam through one of its major figures, Bilal Ibn Rabah. A freed slave hailing from Ethiopia, Bilal buddied up with the prophet Mohammed and converted to Islam following his emancipation and departure from the African continent. He’d go on to become the very first muezzin, the party responsible for calling prayer at mosques in the Islamic faith.
The new trailer that surfaced online yesterday plays down the explicitly Islamic elements of the film (could the folks at Barajoun Entertainment have possibly chosen a more urgent time to mount a film like this?), but that doesn’t detract from the striking visuals. The animation on the humans is vaguely reminiscent of that movie where Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter bunny save the world, but the sweeping natural vistas glimpsed in the trailer are certainly entrancing. A hard American release has not yet been set, though the film has been promised for 2016, so this is definitely one for parents to keep an eye on. Teach ’em compassion and understanding at a young age, and by the time they’re old enough to become furious about politics, basic human decency will be second nature.
