A ROAD TO MECCA - The Journey of Muhammad Asad (Film Trailer)
73.9 هزار بار بازدید -
16 سال پیش
-
A 2008, 92 min
A 2008, 92 min
A ROAD TO MECCA - The Journey Of Muhammad Asad follows the path taken by Leopold Weiss, alias Muhammad Asad, from the outskirts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and New York. The places he lived and visited are examined, and at the same time a complex portrait of Islam unfolds.
Along the way Asad's thoughts are juxtaposed with current problems between East and West. The film crew visits his friends and family, experts and scientists, admirers of his work and numerous chance acquaintances who know little, a great deal, or who will learn about this now-forgotten reformer.
The fact that an Austrian is the key to a better understanding of these worlds is somewhat of a surprise. Muhammad Asad was a visionary whose thoughts and ideas nearly made him a Martin Luther for Islam. A forgotten writer, philosopher, dreamer, and also one of Pakistan's founding fathers and ambassadors to the UN. His writings about the world view, law and philosophy of Islam, and his translation of the Quran, which scientists and academics even today consider his translation one of the very best, exercised enormous influence on modern theological thought in this religion. He saw himself as a kind of mediator, though his religious convictions and political sympathies were clearly divided, and their problematic nature is repeatedly depicted in the film. As a result of his work Asad became one of the most significant cultural intermediaries between the East and West, which makes it surprising that solely a small number of people are now familiar with the name Muhammad Asad.
In its structural principle of capturing statements and counterstatements, A ROAD TO MECCA The Journey Of Muhammad Asad studiously avoids facile answers, and it insistently points out contradictions. The areas where contact takes place and conflict has developed in the present day are depicted and examined from a different perspective. Biographical details, quotes from his writings, private photographs and film material are interwoven to reveal a variety of lives in a touching way: simple Saudi Bedouins, Palestinian refugees, Ariel Sharon's advisors, Pakistani Asadians (as his followers are called) and the individuals Asad met on his journey.
With his ideas always present in the background, the film shoots down some deeply rooted prejudices, at the same time illustrating the great distance separating fundamentalist ideas that support terrorism and a profoundly humane Islam. A Palestinian protagonist sums it up: "Asad taught Islam's true ideas, that it forbids terrorism. Islam is peace. Islam is brotherhood." Though at the beginning A ROAD TO MECCA The Journey Of Muhammad Asad is set mostly in the Arab world, by the time scenes of a 9/11 memorial ceremony in New York are shown it becomes clear that fanaticism represents a global problem.
In the end the story the film tells is also one of tragic failure. Archival footage of Leopold Weiss, alias Muhammad Asad, shows a frail, wise old man who still had a sharp mind. While he may have been naïve in his youth, this was more than compensated by his critical view of humanity in later years. "I fell in love with Islam," he said matter-of-factly shortly before his death in 1992, "but I overestimated the Muslims."
Georg Misch has successfully portrayed both the positive and negative sides of the two worlds with sensitivity and objectivity. Nothing is left out, not even the fact that, as Asad's life came to an end, he was deeply disappointed by the state of the Islamic world, its intellectual isolation and the intolerance of extremists.
A ROAD TO MECCA The Journey Of Muhammad Asad reveals the timeless nature and continuing relevance of the life and work of this outstanding Austrian.
Script
Georg Misch, Miriam Ali de Unzaga
Director
Georg Misch
Sound
Hjalti Bager-Jonathansson
DOP
Joerg Burger
Editing
Marek Kralovsky
Music
Jim Howard
Academic Advisers
Miriam Ali de Unzaga
Günther Windhager
Producer
Ralph Wieser
Produced by
Mischief Films -- Vienna
In co-operation with
ORF, arte, NMO (Holland)
Supported by
Vienna Film Fund
RTR - Fernsehfond Austria
City of Vienna/PID
Technical Details:
OmU, HDV, 35mm, Dolby Digital
A ROAD TO MECCA - The Journey Of Muhammad Asad follows the path taken by Leopold Weiss, alias Muhammad Asad, from the outskirts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and New York. The places he lived and visited are examined, and at the same time a complex portrait of Islam unfolds.
Along the way Asad's thoughts are juxtaposed with current problems between East and West. The film crew visits his friends and family, experts and scientists, admirers of his work and numerous chance acquaintances who know little, a great deal, or who will learn about this now-forgotten reformer.
The fact that an Austrian is the key to a better understanding of these worlds is somewhat of a surprise. Muhammad Asad was a visionary whose thoughts and ideas nearly made him a Martin Luther for Islam. A forgotten writer, philosopher, dreamer, and also one of Pakistan's founding fathers and ambassadors to the UN. His writings about the world view, law and philosophy of Islam, and his translation of the Quran, which scientists and academics even today consider his translation one of the very best, exercised enormous influence on modern theological thought in this religion. He saw himself as a kind of mediator, though his religious convictions and political sympathies were clearly divided, and their problematic nature is repeatedly depicted in the film. As a result of his work Asad became one of the most significant cultural intermediaries between the East and West, which makes it surprising that solely a small number of people are now familiar with the name Muhammad Asad.
In its structural principle of capturing statements and counterstatements, A ROAD TO MECCA The Journey Of Muhammad Asad studiously avoids facile answers, and it insistently points out contradictions. The areas where contact takes place and conflict has developed in the present day are depicted and examined from a different perspective. Biographical details, quotes from his writings, private photographs and film material are interwoven to reveal a variety of lives in a touching way: simple Saudi Bedouins, Palestinian refugees, Ariel Sharon's advisors, Pakistani Asadians (as his followers are called) and the individuals Asad met on his journey.
With his ideas always present in the background, the film shoots down some deeply rooted prejudices, at the same time illustrating the great distance separating fundamentalist ideas that support terrorism and a profoundly humane Islam. A Palestinian protagonist sums it up: "Asad taught Islam's true ideas, that it forbids terrorism. Islam is peace. Islam is brotherhood." Though at the beginning A ROAD TO MECCA The Journey Of Muhammad Asad is set mostly in the Arab world, by the time scenes of a 9/11 memorial ceremony in New York are shown it becomes clear that fanaticism represents a global problem.
In the end the story the film tells is also one of tragic failure. Archival footage of Leopold Weiss, alias Muhammad Asad, shows a frail, wise old man who still had a sharp mind. While he may have been naïve in his youth, this was more than compensated by his critical view of humanity in later years. "I fell in love with Islam," he said matter-of-factly shortly before his death in 1992, "but I overestimated the Muslims."
Georg Misch has successfully portrayed both the positive and negative sides of the two worlds with sensitivity and objectivity. Nothing is left out, not even the fact that, as Asad's life came to an end, he was deeply disappointed by the state of the Islamic world, its intellectual isolation and the intolerance of extremists.
A ROAD TO MECCA The Journey Of Muhammad Asad reveals the timeless nature and continuing relevance of the life and work of this outstanding Austrian.
Script
Georg Misch, Miriam Ali de Unzaga
Director
Georg Misch
Sound
Hjalti Bager-Jonathansson
DOP
Joerg Burger
Editing
Marek Kralovsky
Music
Jim Howard
Academic Advisers
Miriam Ali de Unzaga
Günther Windhager
Producer
Ralph Wieser
Produced by
Mischief Films -- Vienna
In co-operation with
ORF, arte, NMO (Holland)
Supported by
Vienna Film Fund
RTR - Fernsehfond Austria
City of Vienna/PID
Technical Details:
OmU, HDV, 35mm, Dolby Digital
16 سال پیش
در تاریخ 1387/08/03 منتشر شده
است.
73,985
بـار بازدید شده