I like ‘sword and sandal’ type films, especially the big budget classics such as The Ten Commandments, but I am ambivalent about Russell Crowe. However I have been shaken from my ambivalence about Mr Crowe after hearing that his latest film has upset a whole load of Islamic Bearded Savages. For that reason at least, surely the film Noah must be worth seeing.
The Australian news source news.com.au said:
“RUSSELL Crowe’s new big budget biblical epic Noah is facing a battle to get on to screens, with bans in place in several countries.
The Hollywood Reporter states that censor boards in Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates will refuse a local release for the film, which was directed by Darren Aronofsky for Paramount.
Studio executives are expecting similar bans in Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait, the site reported.
Egypt’s top Islamic body has already claimed the film is irreligious and should be banned.
The Al-Azhar institute, one of the region’s main Sunni Muslim authorities, said the movie, slated to open in Egypt on March 26, violated Islam by portraying a prophet.
Al-Azhar can play an advisory role on censoring movies and books in Egypt, but does not have the final say.
Portraying a prophet “contradicts the stature of prophets and messengers … and antagonises the faithful,” the institution said in a statement.
Egypt’s censorship board must approve any movie before it is shown, but it was not immediately clear whether it has approved Noah yet.”
Read the rest of the news.com.au piece here:
The film may be no good but if it upsets the Savages then it must have something going for it.
The fact that the film depicts an (alleged) event which took place quite a few hundred years before the rise of Mo’s sect just shows the paranoia among these people.