How to Meet Muslims: A (Cinematic) Primer

January 6, 2011 6:38 PM

How to Meet Muslims: A (Cinematic) Primer

"I don’t promise that these titles cover everything of the Muslim experience. How could they? Nor are these, properly speaking, films about Islam as a religion—at least, not instructionally so. (I could, if you’d like, write an article about that.) They are instead films about the lived experiences of Muslims, which explore some of the issues that bind Muslims together or drive them apart, striking questions which anyone open to the breadth of human experience can relate to."

posted by pecknpah (14 comments total)

I've seen a number of these but my favorite is Color of Paradise. I think Geert Wilders should watch a few of these before he opens his mouth again. I think it would do him good.
posted by nola at 8:21 PM on January 6, 2011

Theo van Gogh should watch these. Oops, he can't- he's dead for "opening his mouth"!
posted by TSOL at 9:23 PM on January 6, 2011

Theo van Gogh should watch these. Oops, he can't- he's dead for "opening his mouth"!

It's a tragedy that van Gogh was murdered, not only because the act itself is wrong, but also because van Gogh is now seen as a martyr and his death is used as justification for all sorts of nasty things.

In fact, van Gogh was himself a bigot, a supporter of right-wing nationalism, a proponent of racist political policies, a hate monger. He would like to have gone back to a fabled time when the Netherlands was "pure" (his word) and untroubled by the 21st century "multi-culturalism" he abhorred.

An essentially Nazi-esque attitude was disguised by his self-deprecating humor (he described himself as a "village idiot") and the fact that he was engaged in the arts, rather than politics or journalism. But his 'master race' sense of superiority was always there, and he felt compelled to stir up hateful controversy. He took pride in furthering the causes of hatred and mistrust.

Whether it would have done him some good to watch these films is, of course, unknowable. I doubt it, and when I ask myself why, I'm reminded of the Tymon Dogg song with the lines:

"Well I know this man,
he can't trust his wife.

He's sure that she cheats
when she's out of his sight.

He follows her by day,
he harangues her by night.

When she finally has to leave,
he's sure he was right.

He had something to prove,
something to prove.

There is no rest for a man obsessed with something to prove."

Theo van Gogh spent the whole of his professional life and talents to prove his own little hateful 'something.' In a way that would only impress him and those who draw far-reaching conclusions from the acts of a few murderous psychopaths, his wish became true.

I wonder if the 'proof' that he sought his whole life - the act that caused him to end up lying in the street, dying in his blood, with two knives sticking out of his gut - brought him any comfort.

I hope, for the sake of the little bit of humanity that van Gogh ever displayed, that it didn't, and that he thought instead only of his little boy . . . and that he found the wisdom in his last few moments to regret his life's work. And in doing so, gained some sort of meager redemption.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 10:25 PM on January 6, 2011 [10 favorites]

Hey, thanks for posting...

I just received a copy of Paradise Now and I'm showing it to friends this weekend.
Looking forward to finding more on his list.
posted by artof.mulata at 10:35 PM on January 6, 2011

To be honest, it's late and I just skimmed through the article. I have every intention of delving into it in detail later. But my initial reaction was to this:

If you don't know about some of these films, consider yourself uncultured.
and
If you don’t already know about Iranian films, consider yourself embarrassed and uncultured.

Way to open with (and reiterate) a blatant insult to your audience. Really, if I knew about some of these films (and actually, I did) but not others, I'd be uncultured? Which ones, exactly? Why does it matter? And if I didn't but wanted to learn about the Muslim experience through film, why on earth would I listen to you after you open with this?
posted by yiftach at 11:10 PM on January 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

How To Meet Muslims In Birmingham, Alabama:

1) Schedule an appointment with an endocrinologist.

2) Go to your appointment.

3) Meet the bestest, most awesome doctor you've ever had the privilege of seeing.

4) Repeat steps 2-3.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 2:19 AM on January 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

How to Meat, Muslims
posted by fermezporte at 5:14 AM on January 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

As someone who was in a LTR with a Muslim and saw a very different side to the religion from that propagated in the MSM, I'm glad to see material like this.

However, Dee, your comment seems almost completely horrible to me.

But then, he must have been asking for it, right? After all, he was wearing such a revealing dress.

And you didn't like him.
posted by littleredspiders at 5:49 AM on January 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

I certainly was no fan of his. Are you? But hate? My point was that hate begets hate, in the sense that those who live by the sword tend to die by the sword. And van Gogh chose - metaphorically - to live by the sword. No one deserves to be slaughtered in the streets, but it's obvious that van Gogh's pursuit of hatred and mistrust led to his demise. To put it another way, in as much as one can measure these things, his death would have been a much bigger loss for all of us had he spent his life fighting for justice, tolerance and equal rights. But ironically, had he chosen that path, he'd probably still be alive.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 9:17 AM on January 7, 2011

Mr. Moghul has an odd manner of promoting cultural exchange. His strategy seems to be that if he insults the people he purports to want to educate then they will be motivated to watch the movies he recommends.

Short of putting Muslims on buses and driving them around the country to be gawked at, talked to, and interacted with, what more can be done?

Actually, that's a pretty good idea. You offer grants for people to bring in speakers on topics related to Islam and Islamic culture, you sponsor museum exhibitions, film showings with panels, etc.
posted by Jahaza at 10:11 AM on January 7, 2011

My point was that hate begets hate, in the sense that those who live by the sword tend to die by the sword. And van Gogh chose - metaphorically - to live by the sword.

Yeah, but that's the problem with your argument, a metaphor isn't the thing.
posted by Jahaza at 10:12 AM on January 7, 2011

We sometimes hear the question, "If you could go back in time to do it, would you kill Adolf Hitler before the Nazi party came into power?" It's a dumb question, I know, but how many correct answers are there?

Now, turning to the matter of Theo van Gogh...

Again, it's a dumb question.
posted by fredludd at 2:00 PM on January 7, 2011

Well, one could argue that the pen is mightier than the sword - it affects more people, at any rate. I've never excused violence - and I don't here, if you read my post. But how about some common sense? To whit:

But then, he must have been asking for it, right? After all, he was wearing such a revealing dress.

*That* is a bad metaphor. Women who were revealing dresses are not "asking for it." But van Gogh quite literally was asking for it and expecting it and trying to provoke it - he spoke of "it" (the likelihood of his own death, not to mention violent harassment and all sorts of other trouble) all the time. He talked about what he did to deliberately provoke angry reactions and physical confrontations. He talked about how being killed by extremists would prove his point. So the equivalent here isn't a woman wearing a short dress being raped. It's a woman wearing a see-through dress walking at night through the most dangerous part of town, drunk and alone, telling people she expects to be raped soon, and with a note on her back that says "rape me."

Such a rape would still be *wrong* and still a *crime* worthy of its practitioners being punished to the full extent of the law. But it would also have been a pretty stupid thing to do on her part.

Yet I'd still have more sympathy for this fictional woman than for van Gogh, for a simple reason . . . she would the only victim of her actions. Theo van Gogh managed to victimize an entire population before becoming a victim himself.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 2:14 PM on January 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

Mr. Moghul has an odd manner of promoting cultural exchange. His strategy seems to be that if he insults the people he purports to want to educate then they will be motivated to watch the movies he recommends.

That definitely gave me pause, as well. But I thought that maybe the films he recommends were interesting enough that people would be able to see the value in what he's saying behind the insults. If he's trying to appeal to people who aren't already interested in Islam and in getting to know Muslims better, however, I of course agree it would be better to not insult his audience.
posted by pecknpah at 2:21 PM on January 7, 2011