The Message

US: Mohammed , Messenger of God (UK)

Filmco. Director Moustapha Akkad; Producer Moustapha Akkad; Screenplay H.A.L. Craig; Camera Jack Hildyard; Editor John Bloom; Music Maurice Jarre; Art Director Norman Dorme, Abdel Mouneim Chukri

Anthony Quinn
Irene Papas
Michael Ansara
Johnny Sekka
Michael Forest
Damien Thomas

The Message, Moustapha Akkad's $17 million saga of the birth of the Islamic religion, bears favorable comparison as a religious epic. H.A.L. Craig's screenplay is remarkably literate, sometimes witty and ironic, but ultimately and perhaps inevitably simplistic.

The action snowballs from underground cell meetings by followers of Mohammad, through brutal harassment, expulsion from Mecca, pitched battles in the desert, and the final conquering pilgrimage back to Mecca. Throughout the narrative there is uncommon respect for the mind and the eye.

Ultimately it's a triumph for Akkad who welded a logistically sprawling epic into coherence. His crowd scenes are credible and the battle scenes superbly rendered.

(Color) Available on VHS. Extract of a review from 1976. Running time: 179 MIN.

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