Film about Jesus stirs controversy
By Ramadan Al Sherbini, Correspondent [Gulf News)
Published: May 26, 2008, 00:02
Cairo: Egypt's Muslim and Christian clerics have baulked at a plan by a Syrian director to make a film on Jesus Christ.
Filmmaker Mohammad Aziziah has unveiled a plan to start shooting The Arab Messiah, a film about Jesus from an Islamic perspective.
"I am going to file a lawsuit in the name of the Church to get the production of the movie stopped or to have the script changed," Najeeb Gabriel, an adviser to Pope Shenouda, Egypt's top Christian cleric, said.
Aziziah said in recent remarks he would not seek approval of his film from Egypt's Orthodox Coptic Church or Al Azhar, the Sunni Muslim world's most influential institution. "The film will not be shot in Egypt. It can be shot in Syria, Morocco or Tunisia," the filmmaker told the Egyptian independent newspaper Al Khamis earlier this month.
[...]
According to the Quran, Jesus was not crucified, but rather he was raised alive to Heaven.
The Arab Messiah is not only daring but very new. Hundreds of films have been shot depicting Jesus's life and mission in nearly every language. But this will be the first time such a film will have Jesus speaking in Arabic and he will no longer have blue eyes or yellow hair. He will be played by an Arab actor, according to Aziziah.
[...]
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Monday, May 26, 2008
ANOTHER JESUS MOVIE from an Islamic perspective seems to be in the works. Not surprisingly, it is generating controversy: