Blink and you missed the new CGI animated movie Bilal: A New Breed of Hero. Correction, you didn’t even have to blink. Somehow this movie arrived at my local multiplex and I gave it a go. About all I knew is that it was animated and in English and intended for Westerners… but I wasn’t sure where it was from since I’d never seen a trailer. Odds of it being an Indian movie were high since my local theater gets a lot of Bollywood films. But it wasn’t… to my surprise, this was a faith-based film… and the faith was Islam.
Which introduces a problem since the subtitle is “A New Breed of Hero” and it’s set in the 7th century. Not so new maybe. But maybe new to the non-Muslims in the US? Well, not entirely. The film follows Bilal ibn Rabah, an important character in the Muslim religion. I didn’t know who he was and, at the end of the movie, I’m pretty sure I still didn’t.
What I gathered was that he was born and grew up a slave. Eventually he met a man who helped him escape and together they fought a war to defeat the slavemasters. The film seems intent on ignoring the religion of Islam except for basic platitudes about freedom that you can get in any epic Hollywood film. When I looked up the real story, Bilal was an Ethiopian slave who was freed and converted to Islam at the behest of Mohammad himself. He was given the job of the first guy to sound the call to prayers. Is any of that in THIS movie? Nope… I can’t recall them mentioning Islam at all and I’m 100% sure Mohammed never showed up (for good reason given how Islam doesn’t like him portrayed at all). It’s weird that a Christian faith-based movie gets all up in your face but this Muslim movie does not.
So if it’s not really about religion except in the broadest sense, what is it? Well… it’s kind of Braveheart, really. The movie talks a lot about freedom and acceptance of others and then has a big battle scene with lots of horses and soldiers and corpses. Wow… this is a violent movie for a CGI animated kids movie. To be fair, it’s rated PG13 and it earns it. It’s not visibly bloody but people are tortured, wars are waged, people are stabbed.
So this is an interesting movie – a very rare one to get a theatrical release. I just wish the movie was better even within the narrow understanding of what it is. It’s not terrible but I think it requires too much foreknowledge to really get into it. Visually, the CGI animation is largely brilliant – I’m really shocked how much effort they put into it. Not all the humans looks great but that’s forgivable enough. The movie was made in Dubai and was the first production by the studio.
So, yeah, I wouldn’t recommend the film as a film and also as any kind of introduction or retelling of the story of Bilal ibn Rabah. I give them credit for making it, I give them credit for getting it released in theaters. Maybe if they take a stab at another film, they’ll wind up with something better.
Score: 68