Bilal: A New Breed of Hero

In terms of the animation and the soundtrack, this is definitely a very well-produced movie. The narrative also has its moments, and it tries to teach us that everyone is equal before one God, no matter what color they are, where and to whom they were born, and that true freedom means breaking the chains in your heart... It is just such a shame that I could not get rid of the strange feeling that a pompous animated movie from the United Arab Emirates, i.e. from the world of extremely wealthy sheiks (where you can see the disparities between the rich and the poor at a glance, and where the wealthiest gentlemen in the land probably still have servants and harems), simply is not going to convince me that everyone is really truly equal. Of course, these are probably typical European prejudices, and I am going to be condemned by all of the woke brigade fighting for freedom, justice, and equality in society, of which there are many in 2018. However, I am sorry, I just cannot shake off these prejudices. The irony of the differences between the origins and the message has stuck with me and watching this movie, no matter how good it is, kind of made me start to really dislike it. However, what the hell did I expect, it is a narrative concerning Bilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi who was a loyal companion to the Prophet Muhammad, so it has to be the real story of Islam. Well, yeah, although as far as Islam is concerned, I found certain things in the movie that struck me as especially true with parallels to how it is today... But enough!!! I am just going to sum it up by saying that subjectively speaking this movie is very accomplished, it has respectable production values and also a good message, plus a rather interesting narrative (although in my opinion, it has too much unnecessary melodrama). It is just not my kind of movie (and it would not be my kind of movie even if it was about let's say John the Baptist) and therefore I am just not going to award more than 6/10… (10.07.2018)