Egyptians Sneaking Peeks at 'Passion'

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter ^ | March 24 th,2004 | Brooke Comer

[missyme]

CAIRO, Egypt (Hollywood Reporter) - When Mel Gibson (news)'s "The Passion of the Christ" opens in Egypt next month, theater owners are anticipating record ticket sales even though many people in this Muslim country already have seen the biblical epic on bootlegged cassettes or downloads from the Internet.

Piracy is a tempting activity in a country where a US$2 theater ticket is a luxury and strict censorship laws dictated by Al Azhar, the Supreme Muslim Authority, limit the number of Western films on Egyptian screens.

Hassan Saleh, a video editor in Cairo, recently saw "Passion" on a CD-ROM a friend had downloaded from the Internet. He and his friends, most of whom are artists and filmmakers in their 30s, shared the CD and said they loved the film. "We all know how this story ends," Saleh said. "But the beauty of it was the journey of Christ's last three days, the journey of suffering and tragedy. It was very impressive."

Saleh said the quality of the CD was "only acceptable," and he intends to see the film again when it opens in theaters.

Under Muslim rules, it is blasphemy to portray sacred persons in the media. Notably, in 1994, Naguib Mahfouz, winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize for literature, was stabbed by fundamentalists for including God, Jesus and Mohammed in his novel "Children of the Alley."

"Passion" appears to have passed the censors even though the film also contradicts Islamic doctrine; the Koran contends that God put an effigy of Christ on the cross and that there was no resurrection.

Saleh said cassettes of "Passion" are selling for less than $1 in Shoubra, a poor neighborhood in Cairo. Many of the buyers are repeat viewers; churches in Shoubra reportedly have screened video projections of the film for thousands of viewers in the past weeks.

"This is a film everybody wants to see, not because it's touted as anti-Semitic," Saleh said, adding that his Jewish friends in Cairo also liked the film. "I think it's because Christ is depicted as a real man. People can identify with his suffering."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

[dinok]

Now the Islamo-Nazis will blame Gibson for not making the Passion Antisemitic enough.

[Imal]

...the Koran contends that God put an effigy of Christ on the cross and that there was no resurrection.

There you have it folks: the "real" story, straight from Allah's mouth to your ears.

[tiki]

LOL

[Hollywoodghost]

Sounds like the fellow in the story is a Christian. The Egyptians were the first non-jews to accept Christ en masse. The Coptic Church, oppressed for centuries still exists and dispite the problems its members face--it is growing. Many visions of Mary have been witnessed in Egypt. This movie will be a Godsend to this minority living in Islamic Egypt.

[RaceBannon]

huh?

Paul didnt go to Egypt, he went to Greece and Turkey

[dinok]

"The Egyptians were the first non-jews to accept Christ en masse."

I hate to dissapoint you, but the Greeks were the first national group to accept Christianity in large numbers. And paid for it in the Roman arenas.

[spetznaz]

Sounds like the fellow in the story is a Christian.

Not necessarily.

Islam (when it is not blowing up innocents by strapping bombs to kids and promising them virgins and rivers of wine) believes Jesus (Isa) as the holiest prophet after Muhammed. The believe in the Virgin birth, and that Christ went straight to heaven (with an effigy on the cross). The viewership of The Passion in Egypt will actually be more Muslim than Christian (although it should be noted there are many Coptic Christians in Egypt).

The thing that shocked me is not the rather positive view of The Passion in Egypt. No. The thing was the fact the movie passed the censors. As the article touched on Islam does not allow any of their prophets to be portrayed on photographs, film and even drawings. That is the paramount reason most Islamic art is a meld of geometrical shapes. According to strick Islamic theology the only person that would raise more ire than Jesus being depicted is Muhammed. Hence the surprise the film is being shown.

However, even if one Muslim is going to find Christ due to this film then amen to them showing it. And i pray that more than one person shall find Christ.

[Aquinasfan]

"Passion" appears to have passed the censors even though the film also contradicts Islamic doctrine

Surprising. Pray for conversions.

[dinok]

I think the message of Jesus (love your enemy) is so different than Mohammad's (kill your enemy) that the conflict of ideas can not but go unnoticed in the end.

"However, even if one Muslim is going to find Christ due to this film then amen to them showing it. And i pray that more than one person shall find Christ."

I could not agree more with this. But I think the motive of these Arab dictatorships in allowing it to play was to incite more Antisemitism in their people. They may find the opposite.

[DannyTN]

I talked to an Egyptian Doctor 2 years ago who makes $20 a week. So I can see how a $2 ticket as a luxury.

I think people in Muslim countries need to learn a lot more about Jesus and the New Testament.

[contessa machiaveli]

many visions of mary in egypt? i think that's because of easy access to ket.

[missyme]

I think if every Muslim sees the Passion Jesus Christ A "Jew" as the Risen Messiah of the world they will finally have the promise of Peace and eternal life if they reject the divinity of Christ they can seal there fate with Muhammed, which is not a pretty picture....

[Imal]

If I recall correctly, over 90% of the Coptics were slaughtered by the Muslims when they first invaded Egypt, and the other 10% haven't been treated much better.

Being a religious minority in a Muslim nation is no picnic, and the trend in recent years has been for Muslims to chase non-Muslims out entirely, versus simply taxing them and abusing them under dhimmi laws like in the past (after killing most of them, of course).

As for what the future may hold for Coptics, I suspect the answer to that question is intimately tied to what the future holds for Islam.

[Ciexyz]

The film is doing well in other Arab countries as well.

[olde north church]

It's unfortunate Pope John Paul II desire to free the Poles and other Eastern European from the yoke of Communist oppression didn't extend to the emancipation of Catholics and other Christians from the tyranny of muslim theocracy.
Did somebody say Crusade?

[geros]

"If I recall correctly, over 90% of the Coptics were slaughtered by the Muslims when they first invaded Egypt, and the other 10% haven't been treated much better. "
Actually they left them unmolested for several hundred years, because the only wife of Mohammed to give him a child was Egyptian (Coptic), and Mohammed left specific instructions to be nice to them. Later on though some were killed if they couldn't pay their dhimmi taxes.

[Imal]

It appears I did not recall correctly.

I'm not sure where that false little factoid came from, but over the years all sorts of nonsense can creep into my noggin. I suspect my hearing that predates the Internet, hence it was not corroborated as it would have been had I seen it online.

I looked into it, and have a clearer picture of the Muslim invasion of Egypt, based on Coptic sources no less.

Thanks for the correction!

[ZAKJAN]

Regarding Mel Gibson's "The Passion of The Christ."


Do you know what is completely missing from the movie? Palestinians, that's what! Not one time in the entire movie do you see one single Palestinian anywhere. Romans and Jews . . .. that's about it.


No Palestinians.

And do you know why there are no Palestinians in the movie? Do you know why it's just Romans and Jews?

Because that's pretty much all you had in those parts in those days. Romans and Jews. No Palestinians.


The Palestinians didn't arrive on the scene until after 1967.

There. . . that ought to get the heathens raging . .

[Austin Willard Wright]

90 percent? Where did you get that figure. The conversion was gradual not sudden. Egypt still had a Christian majority as late as the 11th century.