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The Lady of Heaven
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Wikipedia article
'The Lady of Heaven' is a 2021 British epic historical drama film written by the Twelver Shia cleric Yasser Al-Habib, the spiritual leader of The Mahdi Servants Union and founder of Fadak TV. Produced by Enlightened Kingdom, the film bills itself as the first movie on the life of the historical figure Fatima, a daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, during the early muslim period. It is written from a Shia perspective of Fatimah's story, which differs substantially from that of the Sunni Muslim majority. The film implies that there are similarities between the actions of revered early-Islamic figures with those of the Islamic State group in Iraq.
Plot
Laith, an Iraqi child in the middle of a war-torn country at the hands of ISIS, after losing his mother, finds himself a new home with an elderly woman who tells him the story of Fatimah, the daughter of Muhammad, from the Shia perspective, explaining how she was the first victim of terrorism.
Cast
* Denise Black as Bibi
* Gabriel Cartade as Laith
* Ray Fearon as Abu Bakr
* Mark Anthony Brighton as Umar
* Chris Jarman as Bilal
* Albane Courtois as Fatima Lanrawi
* Oscar Garland as Raed
* Andrew Harrison as Qunfudh
* Sami Karim as Khalid
* Christopher Sciueref
* Lucas Bond as Jamal
* Levan Saginashvili as Talhah ibn Abi Talhah al-Abdari
* Dimitri Andreas as Salman the Persian
* David Katsarava as Abu Sufyan ibn Harb
Production
'The Lady of Heaven' was directed by an unidentified crew that goes by the pseudonym Eli King. Filming began in August 2019 and continued through October of the same year in the cities of Tbilisi, Rustavi, and Vaziani. The majority of filming took place in Vaziani and John Stephenson was brought on as a creative consultant. Further filming also took place in London the following months. It took the production team over 2 months to build the sets for Mecca and Medina as imagined in 622 AD. Actors Denise Black, Ray Fearon, and Lucas Bond were brought on to act in the film and Chris Jarman was confirmed as portraying Bilal ibn Rabah, one of the companions of Muhammad. In March 2021, LA based sales agent Hannibal Media acquired worldwide rights to the film.
Per writer Al-Habib, in order to respect aniconism in Islam, all holy figures of Twelver Shi'ism were portrayed by light and cinematic effects as opposed to being portrayed by an actor or single individual; notably, figures deemed holy in Sunni Islam but not Shi'ism were portrayed by darker skinned actors. In an interview with 'Deadline Hollywood' the producers discussed how they tackled the very challenging aspect of depicting a Muslim holy personality.
Marketing
Marketing for the film has promoted 'The Lady of Heaven' as the first ever cinematic production on the life of Fatima, during and after the era of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. A trailer for the film was released in December 2020. An attempt was made by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to block the trailer on social media platforms.
Writer Al-Habib has voiced his support for the film, stating that:
Additionally, Malik Shlibak, one of the executive producers on the film responded by stating:
The Mahdi Servants Union says:
Release
'The Lady of Heaven' was set for a 2020 release, but like many productions, it was delayed due to uncertainties in the industry related to the COVID-19 pandemic. On the 25th of October 2021, it was announced that the movie will be premiering in the United States on December 10, 2021.
The film was released on 3 June 2022 in cinemas in the UK. Protests by Muslim groups against Cineworld cinemas resulted in the film being dropped by the chain.
Reception
Due to some people's response to its sectarian nature, as well as the inherent taboo of depicting Islamic figures in film, there is much criticism of the film's existence.
Pre-release reception
In the March du Film at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, the film's producers were interviewed by Deadline Hollywood's co-Editor-in-Chief, Mike Fleming Jr, in a panel discussion on International Storytelling in Modern Cinema. The producers spoke of bringing Lady Fatima's story to life and the challenges the team faced with depicting religious history. The film received an award for Best Visual Effects at the iSuccess International Awards gala in an event hosted by Superfilm Studios in co-production with Forbes France.
Despite this early praise from non-Muslim critics, in the Muslim world, the film has continued to draw criticism from both Twelver Shia and Sunni scholars, organisations and institutions, including the Pakistani Government and scholars from Al-Azhar.
Fars News Agency has questioned the intent of the film, noting that "A number of renowned Islamic scholars have criticized the film for poor background research and inflammatory content."
Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, also questioned the purpose of the film on his Twitter account.
The Iranian government banned the film from being released in the country, calling it aimed at dividing Muslims.
In 2021, four Shia scholars condemned the film, Ayatollah Sheikh Naser Makarem Shirazi, Ayatollah Sheikh Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani, Ayatollah Sheikh Ja'far Sobhani and Ayatollah Sheikh Hossein Noori Hamedani.
Additionally that year, seven Shia scholars in the UK condemned the film, criticising it for exacerbating sectarian tensions between Muslims in the UK.
5Pillars, an Islamic Media organisation from the UK, disregarded the film as "two hours plus of the most extreme Shia sectarian narratives about how the caliphate was supposedly usurped from the Ahl ul Bayt. And most Muslims will find the invective against three of the most beloved companions [
Additional religious criticism has centred around the portrayal of Aisha, one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad. Yasser Al-Habib, the writer of the film, is known for his polemics against Sunni Islam, the majority denomination within the religion, and he has made a number of controversial statements about important Islamic historical figures, for example angering Sunni Muslims in September 2010 by calling Aisha an enemy of God, which led Kuwait to revoke his citizenship.
Post-release reception
'The Lady of Heaven' has received a mostly negative reception from critics, attracting a score of 20% on Rotten Tomatoes.Despite being released first in the United States of America in December 2021, after less than a week since its international release on June 3, 2022, the film has proved to be a financial failure internationally, pulling a little over $70,000 - a fraction of its $15,000,000 production budget.
Beatrice Loayza of 'The New York Times', called the film "a mechanical history lesson riddled with clichs". Loayza also questioned the casting of Denise Black, a white English actress, as the mother of an Iraqi soldier before criticizing the smaller-than-expected role of Fatima in the movie. Dennis Schwartz gave the movie a grade of C and wrote "The filmmaker gives half a shout-out for his Islamic religion to go the non-violent route, but the storytelling is made up of plot points by rote, not completely convincing in its call for peace and is loaded with too many religious cliches". Loayza and Schwartz shared a common criticism: the movie showed the faces of holy figures like Muhammad, but it hid the face of the eponymous Fatima, around whom the story seemed to revolve less than others such as Ali.
Zita Short of 'Keith Loves Movies' countered this criticism with an explanation. Short asserted that there exists a tension between Fatima the human and Fatima the divine, making it "impossible to offer up a satisfactory rendering of Fatima as a human being". In turn, Fatima became a multilayered personality whose significance is primarily seen by her effects on everyone around her. Short went on to praise the movie's uniqueness by contrasting it with 'The Message' as well as its grand and larger-than-life production design, but Short ultimately rated the movie 61/100.
Roger Moore of 'Movie Nation' gave the movie a rating of 2 out of 4 stars. While Moore appreciated the impressiveness of CGI and the movie's uniqueness in a sea of religious movies, Moore downplays the film thanks to poor transitions between many different scenes, a big focus on battles in early Islam that Moore thought contradicted the movie's message, and muddled storytelling caused by "the many obstacles the production had to get around distracted one and all to the extent that they somewhat botched the messaging".
Sean Boelman of 'disappointment media' rated the film 2/5. He praised the movie's message. However, Boelman disliked the use of the flash-forward device, believing it transformed the film "from bland historical drama to emotionally cheap sermon". Other criticisms include apparent lack of knowledge of who the audience is, very fast pacing, dullness despite the film being packed with action, stiff dialogue, and low budget that made the movie feel cheap.
Sister Rose of 'Patheos' complimented the movie's cinematography and noted the place Fatima holds in the hearts of Shia Muslims, suggesting she is a beacon of hope and peace in a violent world. But Rose faulted the lack of character development, the mystery around Fatima, the British accent ubiquitous in similar films, and the violence that seemed to overshadow Fatima's role.
Reviewing the film for 'The Irish Times', Donald Clarke gave a rating of 3 out of 5 stars and wrote, "In truth, it would require much specialist knowledge to offer worthwhile assessment of historical or theological accuracy. The film is unlikely to attract much interest from those not already engaged with the subject. It is rough around the edges throughout. But this is a sincere effort made with admirable gusto."
Phil Hoad from 'The Guardian' rated it 2 out of 5 stars, remarking "For a film that aims to promote religious diversity and freedom of thought, its metronomic alternation between time frames, narrative slavishness and laughable coda have a suffocating sense of orthodoxy". Ed Potton of 'The Times' similarly gave a two-star rating, citing "the clunky writing, wooden acting, insipid music and dodgy visual effects."
Shia media outlet The Muslim Vibe surmised the film: "Quite simply, this films priority is to offend Sunni Muslims more than it is to depict a Shia Muslim understanding of this contentious period of Islamic history". This was qualified with a series of criticisms such as the portrayal of some of the characters considered holy in Islam: "Abu Bukar, Umar and Uthman were shown to be corrupt, treacherous and conniving from the outset without any nuance to their character. In fact, the first time the Prophets wife, Aisha, is shown in the film, the films narrator labels her as being jealous. The CGI used on the Prophet's wifes face was intended to make her look very ugly and like, which of course, is not only offensive to all Muslims but offensive to anyone watching the film because of its immature use of cliches to frame a story. Given Yasir Habibs record of spreading vulgar historical distortions, this film comes as no surprise, I guess."
In June 2022 in Faizan-e-islam conference, 3 Shia scholars Ayatollah Sayed Fadhil Al Milani (Imam of Al-Khoei foundation), Sayed Murtaza Kashmiri (Ayatollah Sayed Ali al-Sistani's deputy) and Sayed Hashim Moosavi (Imam of Islamic centre of England and Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khameni's deputy) condemned the lady of Heaven film.
Protests and bans
The film has been banned in Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, and Morocco.Protests have also occurred in the United Kingdom. Protests were held in Bolton, Blackburn, Bradford, Sheffield and Birmingham, on allegations that the film makes mockery of Aisha and other companions of the Prophet and would provoke "Sunni and Shia tensions". Film performances were cancelled in a cinema in Bolton after protests. After protests in Sheffield and Birmingham, Cineworld cancelled all showings of the film in the United Kingdom. The UK cancellation was criticized as "disastrous for the arts, dangerous for free speech" by Baroness Fox, who likened the cancellation to creeping extra-parliamentary blasphemy law. However, Vue Cinemas are continuing to screen the film.
The producer of the film supported the right of protesters to express their views, but said pulling out the film was against British values.
See also
* Succession to Muhammad
* Ali in Muslim culture
* Omar at Fatimah's house
* Marital life of Fatimah
* Event of Ghadir Khumm
* Saqifah
* Ahl al-Kisa
* Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cinema
* Heckler's veto
References
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