(Movie poster)
I don't know why I didn't see the hype for this movie, even in ilorin a town whose inhabitants Muslims form a majority, I don't think it made it to the cinema in this town.
I literally just saw the title online and thought
"hmm, name sounds familiar,
is it really the story of Bilal(R.A)or just a namesake?
Or is this just another subtle dig at muslims?
Knowing fully well that muslims discourage seeing images of the prophet S.A.W. and his companions"
So I downloaded it (not proud) just for curiousity's sake.
Synopsis:
The movie tells the story of a young boy Bilal, who upon the death of his mother by unknown bandits is sold into slavery alongside his sister and his journey to redemption. It is also the fictional story of a real person of the same name who lived during the life of the Prophet Muhammad(S.A.W.).
What i knew before:
The first time I ever heard about Bilal was when he was mentioned to me by my father when I asked of the history behind the call to prayer by the muadhin, My father excitedly told me about how Bilal a former Black slave was the first to make this call.
I didn't get his excitement as to be expected of a 8 year old naive girl with no idea of racism and slavery. I liked the fact that he was black like me but that was it.
Image from
(https://anchorwithkeidi.wordpress.com/tag/muadhin/)
Belonging:
Fast forward to the world we live in and grown up me watching his story brings a sense of identity and belonging i never knew i needed. Regardless of whatever misgivings i may have about this movie,i would like to thank the makers for giving me that. The yoruba african in me who is usually excluded in global islamic world and discussions.
Authenticity: The movie excluded key elements like the prophet but i could understand why, they also never mentioned islam by name and this made the story a bit disjointed but all in all the movie tried to stay close to the original events. From the depictions of the idol, to the names of characters at least to my knowledge
Characters: The movie follows the life of bilal from a young boy to adulthood and his journey to self-discovery, acceptance and faith.The movie also showed the character growth of safwan from troubled boy to old resigned man. The movie was a bit whitewashed to be appealing to the general audience, to the detriminent of the muslim audience
The movie though it had a lot of positives, it still had its setbacks, to really understand the movie you have to have a background knowledge of the characters. The kids in my house could not handle the torture scene (one cried) and they are not overly sensitive kids, but all in all it was a great movie to watch. I am definitely recommending it to my mustwatch lists.
Rating : 7 patewo.