It's been more than 40 years since Moustapha Akkad's classic The Message was released: it was greeted at the time by well-publicised controversy, protests over the film's English-language version in the West, and a virtual blanket ban on the Arabic language version at cinemas across the Middle East.
Now, Akkad's son Malek has painstakingly restored the movie in super-high resolution 4K format and, finally, won the film the Mena-wide cinema release it could not achieve in 1976. Malek Akkad is a film producer whose credits, interestingly, include following in his father's footsteps with the Halloween franchise (Akkad senior was the original slasher movie's executive producer).
Getting this year's The Message release may not have been quite as painstaking as his father's original endeavour. Akkad's dad faced religious objections, funding problems, and had to relocate the entire production and its two – English and Arabic – casts from Morocco to Libya six months from completion after pressure from religious groups forced the Moroccan government to shut down the shoot. But the restoration was still a laborious process, using about 10 laboratories and companies in the US and UK. Then came the small matter of getting the film into cinemas in a region where, in many countries, the film is still banned four decades after it was completed.
“We’ve had to resubmit the film in almost every country and put it through the censorship process all over again,” Akkad says. “There’s been a lot of nudging and cajoling to get it across the line, and there are a couple of countries we’re still working on, but things have changed so much now, there’s much more openness to things like cinema.”
Akkad recalls his father’s tales of the reception to his film: “It was pretty much banned across the whole Middle East,” he says. “I think it showed at a couple of theatres in Lebanon, and even that was controversial. King Hussein of Jordan did embrace it once he’d seen the film and became very good friends with my father, but other than that it was pretty much banned, or at least not screened, everywhere.”
As is so often the case when pressure groups call for art to be banned, many of those critical of The Message had not even seen the film, and it seems King Hussein's reaction to the film was shared by many of its critics who gave it a chance.
“I remember my dad saying that everyone he’d ever spoken to that was resistant to the film, once they saw it they’d changed their opinion and loved it. It took a while,” Akkad says.
Despite the cinema ban, audiences across the region acquired bootleg video cassettes and DVDs, and it is now a firm favourite on regional television schedules. Audiences clearly love the film, and Akkad insists that his father was simply trying to spread a positive message, and widen global understanding of Islam. The film tells the story of the life of Prophet Mohammed through peripheral characters who followed Him – but He is never depicted.
He “was trying to preach a message of love and peace, and yet he faced such opposition and controversy”, the director’s son says. “I think he was just so ahead of his time and for whatever reason people just weren’t ready for it.
“The fact that people found bootleg copies, TV picked it up and it became a huge favourite across the region proves the value of what he was doing, but it all just comes down to him being so far ahead of his time. He was so committed to this and believed so strongly in what he was doing, the fact that it’s lasted and holds up so beautifully is testament to his perseverance and hard work.”
It wasn't just Islam that Moustapha Akkad hoped to bring to screens, but the entire region. Malek Akkad reveals that when his father went to the United States to study film in the 1950s he originally "wanted to be a David Lean".On witnessing the extent of peoples' ignorance of the Arab world, however, his mission became a more personal one – to dispel the myths and serve as an ambassador.
Akkad reveals that his father had "loads" of scripts telling stories from the Middle East that he hoped to make, including his second film, Lion of the Desert, which told the story of Libyan Bedouin resistance to the Italian fascists during the Second World War.
Unfortunately, after the controversy surrounding The Message, including the death of a journalist and a policeman during a siege staged by the Hanafi Movement in the US, he found it increasingly hard to attract funding for his projects, and most of his later career was spent producing, rather than directing, films.
As a producer, can the younger Akkad be expected to resurrect some of his father's projects and bring them to the big screen? "Moustapha Akkad was a unique visionary, and I wouldn't pretend that I could step into those very large shoes, but as a producer I would love to see some of those films done," he says. "He had such huge ideas. When he started filming [The Message] in Morocco, he had plans to build a whole cinema city there that would train and develop professionals and do TV work, too.
“I’ve seen all the designs from back in the sixties, but sadly when they were shut down and forced out of Morocco that all went, too. I wouldn’t be arrogant enough to claim I can have anything like the same effect as he did, but if I can have just a fraction of that in my own work then I’ll be a very happy man.”
Akkad isn't quite finished with his father's work yet. His next project is a documentary about the fraught process his father went through to bring The Message to screens which, he hopes, to have ready for a festival release this year. He is also in the closing stages of the latest Halloween movie, which brings star Jamie Lee Curtis and writer John Carpenter back to the set, and follows directly on from the 1978, Akkad-produced original film.
He’s also planning on carrying on his father’s mission of assisting the region’s film industry by planning the Moustapha Akkad Endowment, which will send an aspiring film-maker to study at USC in California.
It’s clear which project is uppermost in his mind, however: “Right now, I’m just super-excited that the film’s finally releasing in the Middle East, and to be coming there to see it,” he says.
“I’m going to try and visit as many of the countries where it’s screening as I can. I can’t describe how proud I am, and I know my father would be, too.”
The Message, in Arabic and English, will be released in UAE cinemas on June 14
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Read more:
More than four decades after it was banned, The Message is set for Eid release in UAE cinemas
Prophet Mohammed biopic speaks to the enduring power of cinema
In a world where ignorance of Islam persists, The Message is as timely, necessary and fresh as ever
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Tenet
Director: Christopher Nolan
Stars: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh
Rating: 5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Nancy 9 (Hassa Beek)
Nancy Ajram
(In2Musica)
KEY%20DATES%20IN%20AMAZON'S%20HISTORY
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
About Takalam
Date started: early 2020
Founders: Khawla Hammad and Inas Abu Shashieh
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech and wellness
Number of staff: 4
Funding to date: Bootstrapped
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
How to vote in the UAE
1) Download your ballot https://www.fvap.gov/
2) Take it to the US Embassy
3) Deadline is October 15
4) The embassy will ensure all ballots reach the US in time for the November 3 poll
Know your Camel lingo
The bairaq is a competition for the best herd of 50 camels, named for the banner its winner takes home
Namoos - a word of congratulations reserved for falconry competitions, camel races and camel pageants. It best translates as 'the pride of victory' - and for competitors, it is priceless
Asayel camels - sleek, short-haired hound-like racers
Majahim - chocolate-brown camels that can grow to weigh two tonnes. They were only valued for milk until camel pageantry took off in the 1990s
Millions Street - the thoroughfare where camels are led and where white 4x4s throng throughout the festival
The specs: 2018 Nissan Patrol Nismo
Price: base / as tested: Dh382,000
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 428hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 560Nm @ 3,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km
Honeymoonish
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The biog
Occupation: Key marker and auto electrician
Hometown: Ghazala, Syria
Date of arrival in Abu Dhabi: May 15, 1978
Family: 11 siblings, a wife, three sons and one daughter
Favourite place in UAE: Abu Dhabi
Favourite hobby: I like to do a mix of things, like listening to poetry for example.
Favourite Syrian artist: Sabah Fakhri, a tenor from Aleppo
Favourite food: fresh fish
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
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Scoreline
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 17
Jebel Ali Dragons 20
Harlequins Tries: Kinivilliame, Stevenson; Cons: Stevenson 2; Pen: Stevenson
Dragons Tries: Naisau, Fourie; Cons: Love 2; Pens: Love 2