The Prophet (2014 film)

The Prophet
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Roger Allers
Produced by
Screenplay by Roger Allers
Based on The Prophet
by Kahlil Gibran
Starring
Music by Gabriel Yared
Production
companies
Distributed by GKIDS
Release date
  • 6 September 2014 (2014-09-06) (TIFF)
  • 7 August 2015 (2015-08-07) (Los Angeles and New York)
Running time
 84 minutes
Country
Language English
Budget $12 million[2]
Box office $725,489 (US)[3]

The Prophet (full title Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet) is a 2014 animated film adapted from Kahlil Gibran's book The Prophet. The film was produced by Salma Hayek, who also performed voice work. The production consisted of different directors for each of the film's collective essays, with animation director Roger Allers supervising and credited as screenwriter. Segment directors include Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi, Joan C. Gratz, Mohammed Saeed Harib, Tomm Moore, Nina Paley, Bill Plympton, Joann Sfar and Michal Socha. The film had an in-progress preview at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.[4]

On 5 February 2015, it was confirmed that animation distributor GKIDS has acquired North American rights to the film.[5]

Plot

Set in Lebanon during the Ottoman Empire, Kamila, a widowed mother, works as the housekeeper for Mustafa, a foreign poet, painter, and political activist being held under house arrest. Mustafa is guarded by the soldier Halim, who has a secret crush on Kamila. Kamila's daughter, Almitra, has stopped talking due to her father's death, and has become a troublemaker who frequently steals from local merchants. Almitra has seagulls for her only friends; she even seems able to talk to them by making birdlike noises. Halim's pompous Sergeant arrives to tell Mustafa that he is now free, but he must board a ship to his home country by day's end. The Sergeant escorts Mustafa to the ship, and Mustafa spends the time conversing with Kamila, Almitra and Halim, as well as with the townspeople, who regard him as a hero. Mustafa's conversations, range in topics from freedom, parenthood, and marriage, to working, eating, love, and good & evil are animated by the movie's many directors in their own unique styles.

Once everyone reaches the ship, the army imprisons Mustafa in a fortress instead of allowing him to board. The commanding officer labels Mustafa's writings as seditious, and demands that he retract his statements. Mustafa refuses, asserting that his writings are not seditious. Thus, the commanding officer sentences Mustafa to death by firing squad the next morning unless he disavows his writings. That evening, Kamila, Almitra and Halim try to help Mustafa escape. Almitra sees Mustafa through his prison cell window, and talks for the first time since her father's death. Mustafa refuses to try to escape, giving his final animated poem, this time on the topic of death. But he asks his friends to return to the house and rescue all his paintings and writings before the army can destroy them. The next day, Mustafa again refuses to renounce his writings as he is being led to the firing squad in the fortress's open yard. A large flock of seagulls surround him as he is being placed in position. Over at the house, Kamila and Almitra save all of Mustafa's writings and drawings right before the army arrives, and they hide in the woods. Then suddenly they hear loud gunfire and see the flock of seagulls fly out of the fortress. But Almitra insists that Mustafa is all right. As she sees the flock circle around the now departing ship, Almitra sees Mustafa's spirit aboard the ship sailing for home.

Voice cast

Release

The film was released on-demand on January 19, and on Blu-ray/DVD on 2 February 2016.[6]

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 67% based on 66 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Kahlil Gibran's the Prophet is a thrillingly lovely adaptation of the classic text, albeit one that doesn't quite capture the magic of its source material."[7] Metacritic gives it a weighted average score of 61%, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[8]

Variety wrote, "As if it weren't special enough to hear Neeson recite Gibran's sentiments amidst such striking visuals, the addition of music further elevates verses that so many have already committed to memory and which a whole new audience can now discover for the first time."[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Debruge, Peter (21 March 2015). "Film Review: 'Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet'". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
  2. ↑ Giardina, Carolyn (27 November 2015). "Inside Salma Hayek's Four-Year Quest to Make 'Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet'". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  3. ↑ "Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  4. ↑ Wolfe, Jennifer (23 May 2014). "GALLERY: Salma Hayek's 'The Prophet'". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  5. ↑ Patten, Dominic (5 February 2015). "GKIDS Acquires Salma Hayek-Produced 'The Prophet'". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  6. ↑ ""My words are my wings" #TheProphetMovie". Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet. Facebook. 23 December 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
  7. ↑ "Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  8. ↑ "Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
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