Salma Hayeks passion project brings #Lebanese-#American poet Kahlil Gibrans The Prophet to beautiful life In the book, Almustafa is a poet who is beloved in the city of Orphalese, and after twelve long years, he prepares to catch a boat that will take him home. Before he can leave, the entire city comes out to see him, and a seeress named Almitra asks him to share some thoughts before he goes, leading to a series of twenty-six poems on very specific topics like love, marriage, work, joy and sorrow, laws, freedom, friendship, and more. Much of what he says is self-evident, but the way he says it in the book is what gives it such power. Gibran was a beautiful writer, and the book is full of truly powerful imagery. Its not a huge narrative, though, and so when Salma Hayek began putting together a team to try to bring the movie to life, one of the first things they had to do was figure out how to make that work as the framework for the movie. To that end, Mustafa has now become a political dissident, a poet whose work moved the people of Orphalese to begin to question the way things are. Hes spent seven years under house arrest, seeing almost no one except for Kamila (Hayek), his housekeeper. Hes still writing and painting, but the work goes unseen. Finally, the authorities decide something must be done and the local Sergeant (Alfred Molina) comes to tell Mustafa that hell be taken to a ship in the harbor, where he is to leave Orphalese and never return in exchange for his freedom. Theres another darker plan afoot, though, one that only Kamilas daughter knows about. And since Almitra (Quvenzhane Wallis) hasnt spoken since the death of her father several years earlier, it may not be possible for anyone to save Mustafa. ... Much of what Gibran wrote is the sort of thing that seems to make innate sense when you read it, but it is the articulation of those ideas that makes it such a powerful and enduring work. Of course I want my children to grow and become independent people, people who have their own feelings and thoughts and ambitions and dreams. I try to lay out as much knowledge for them as I can and as much moral and emotional guidance, but they are going to be their own people, and I cannot force them to take any of it. Beyond that, I have learned from both of them. My younger son loves with a force unlike anything Ive ever witnessed. His heart dwarfs mine, and I strive every day to learn from him, to love like him. My older son has an open fearlessness about people that I try to emulate as I move through this world as well. From each segment, we come back to Mustafas story, and we move further towards that inevitable showdown when he is offered a simple choice: renounce his words and all of his ideas and be allowed to board that ship, or stand behind the things hes said as he stands in front of a firing line.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 17:00:00 +0000
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