French film promotes Christian-Muslim respect

The film — which brings to minds the kidnapping of the seven French Trappist monks in the Tibhirine village, to the East of Algeria, in the end of the past century — directs a clear message, according to its director, which is “a message of entering into dialogue and coexistence with Muslims.”

The film deals with the lives of the seven French monks in the monastery of Tibhirine in the East of Algeria until their kidnapping in 1996 by a group believed to be related to the Armed Islamic group (in French: Groupe Islamique Armé — GIA) until they were found beheaded around the same period, after French authorities refused to meet the demands of the kidnappers.

Algeria lived throughout the 1990s what was known as “bloody decade” in the context of the armed conflict between the Algerian army and the armed Islamic groups that have kidnapped and killed many foreigners.

In his presentation of the film at one of the Parisian cinema halls on September 14, 2010, Xavier Beauvois, the film director said,

The film presents the details of daily life of the seven monks in Tibhirine Village and shows how the monks lived there for several years as part of the Muslim population and their relationship with the villagers characterized by cordiality and in an atmosphere of mutual respect for the creed of one another.

The film was shot in the suburbs of Meknes City in Morocco, in a region that resembles to a great extent the charming nature of Tibhrine Village where the monastery of the seven monks lies on a hill overlooking the village.

An Opportunity for an Islamic-Christian Convergence

Tshe film focuses remarkably on the daily solidarity of the seven monks with the villagers and their participation in Muslims’ joys and sorrows.

The film also focuses particularly on the role of Monk Luc and his free work as a doctor who treats 50 villagers everyday in his shop adjacent to the monastery. Furthermore, during the bloody conflict between Islamists and the army, Luc treated a number of the injured Islamists who fell in the conflict, which caused problems for the monks with Algerian authorities.

The film represents an opportunity for a Christian-Islamic meeting, where the presentation was attended by Muhammad Al-Mousawi, president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, and Sheikh Daw Meskine, secretary-general of the French Council of Imams, along with a large number of priests and monks.

Although the film shows the tragedy experienced by the monks of Tibhrine without assuming that the kidnappers were Muslims, the film director was keen to deliver a message that the kidnappers and the killers were not necessarily Muslims who truly know their religion, which respects the creeds of others and treats them kindly.

A Message of Coexistence

Confirming the coexistence ideal upon which the film focuses, the film director viewed many scenes where the Bible was recited by the monks during their daily prayers, along with other scenes where the Glorious Qur’an was recited by the Sheikhs of the village, showing how the Qur’anic verses urge to deal kindly with “the People of the Scriptures” and hold recognition of their Prophets.

Despite the strong message of coexistence that the film tries to deliver, to many viewers, it does not exceed a hidden “missionary” message that glorifies the saying of “the Christian sacrifice” and portrays Christianity as a religion of peace and absolute reconciliation, which was denied by the director of the film, commenting,

The monks who have lived for tens of years in that village did not seek one day to disseminate their religion among the villagers.

The film concluded with scenes of the monks who move from one place to another with their kidnappers, in the middle of mountains, up and down, without the director’s reference to the circumstances in which the monks were killed, especially after the French argument that was raised last year upon a leak from French military authorities that the killing of the monks was a result of the French-Algerian bombing of one of the strongholds of the armed groups.

The presentation of the film met by chance the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, which came this year corresponding to the threats of an American priest to burn the Noble Qur’an — a matter that has brought back to the mind the atmosphere of confrontation between religions and civilizations.

http://www.onislam.net/english/back-to-religion/3561/449315.html