In an effort to gain support for his children’s freedom from slavery, the newly freed American slave Abdul Rahman once wrote out what was supposed to be the Lord’s Prayer in Arabic.

Years later, it was discovered that he had actually written out Surah Al-Fatihah, the opening chapter of the Qur’an.

After forty years of crushing servitude in a strongly Christian land, this former African prince still remained faithful to Allah, with the memory of His words still in his heart and mind.

Mos Def is the narrator for this film. Michael Wolfe and Alex Kronemer are the Executive Producers. Sulayman Nyang is one of the advisers for the making of the film.

Visit: Official Site for the Film |

I have seen this film in its entire length. It’s really good. So good that it won at the Tribeca Film Festival this year for Best Documentary Short. I also had the pleasure of working with Musa Sayeed and Yoni Brook (the producers and director) of this film on a short documentary of the AerosolArabic USA Arts and Islam Tour. You can view an early version of the documentary they working on for that tour here.

A Son’s Sacrifice is about:

Imran, a young Muslim American, struggles to take over his father’s neighborhood halal slaughterhouse in New York City. The son of an immigrant, Imran must confront his mixed heritage and gain acceptance from his father’s conservative community. On one of Islam’s holiest days, Imran must lead a sacrifice that will define him as a Muslim, as an American and as a son.

A SON’S SACRIFICE premieres Tuesday, January 22 on Independent Lens, a weekly series airing on PBS. Hosted by Terrence Howard, the acclaimed series showcases powerful and innovative independent films. Presented by ITVS, INDEPENDENT LENS is broadcast on PBS stations nationwide.

Visit the Web site for more:
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/sonssacrifice/
Official Movie Site: http://www.sonsacrifice.com/

The [[Tipton Three]] are the focus of this film. The film is mainly based on their account and is accompanied by their on camera narrative, although their parts are played out by actors. Their story overall matches well with what their written accounts have been. Although there are some discreprencies for example in their written accounts they talk about being given injections whose contents were never shared with them. This is not shown in the movie at all. The level of sexual harassment is almost downplayed in this movie while accounts from other Britons say that prostitutes would be bought into the cells of pious younger males in order to crack their faith. That isn’t mentioned in the film. Although they show a brief scene where one of the three is being interrogated and is given a dirty magazine which he chucks and then is riddiculed for his action.

The most touching part of the film for me was seeing them make prayer in Jamaat (collective prayer) from their cells which were pretty spread out. After seeing guards try to discourage people from practicing thier religion, even those who were irrelegious started to gravitate towards a more spiritual mindset. That is an amazing thing, after all the unfounded abuse and punishment faith is what allows them to go on. On a television interview I saw the three explaining that they would see people go insane, and would think I can’t let them get to me, I can’t let myself go crazy. I mean what else would happen when people would be hog tied and put into a chamber which music would be blasted on a level beyond what the ear drums can bare for 1-5 hours. Or when a group of Guards would storm in wearing Riot gear and pounce on someone who in in an anorexic like state.

Alot of Muslims are amazed that these guys are actually being able to tell their story through a full length theatrical film. I think everyone needs to see this. This film gives a human face to these so called “[[enemy combatants]]” especially ones who clearly were not even fighters. Even those who were fighting, do they deserve the type of abuse they have received? These three lost 3 years of their lives. All for what? Going off into a foreign country to explore what was out there. As one of the tipton three said.. he doesn’t regret that this happened because this experience has made him a better, stronger person. I feel ashamed at not having been able to shed a tear after watching this film twice.
You can’t help but wonder what you would do if you were in their shoes. They were really smart to admit to things which were IMPOSSIBLE for them to do (which could be proven otherwise). I believe the fact that they were British really helped them alot because if they were American theres no way that anyone would have tried to find out if these guys were innocent or not. They would have been quickly chalked up as another victory in the war on terror, and the media spin applied to a government announcement today is almost irreversible.

If you can’t find a theater playing this film, make sure to get the DVD when it comes out. Btw the MPAA banned the poster above. Make sure to download it from the official site and post it on your blogs.

Relevant Links: Official Site | Google Video Trailer | Denounce Torture Action Guide by Amnesty International

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All the technology and the weaponry that will take a few years to
develop won’t be ready to be used in our current conflict areas. So
obviously this means that there must be future wars in which these new
weapons will be made use of on the battlefield (if such a concept even
exists in the modern world). These weapons won’t be replaced with new
ones till these become obsolete. People who are getting paid will be
used to getting paid. Defense contracts can’t be a short term thing for
them. Its sad to see so many people in the technology sector
(including Muslims) chasing that “911 money”. I’m coining that term,
all rights reserved.

I also recently saw Jarhead which sucked, but did a decent job of showing how soldiers think. I wonder if soldiers would like to watch a film which breaks down why they really get sent all over the world. You can imagine that most wouldn’t want to know because knowing would make their lives really difficult.

Relevant Links: Purchase at Amazon | Official Movie Site

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Here is the synopsis from the official website :

THE CORPORATION explores the nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our time. Footage from pop culture, advertising, TV news, and corporate propaganda, illuminates the corporation’s grip on our lives. Taking its legal status as a “person” to its logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist’s couch to ask “What kind of person is it?” Provoking, witty, sweepingly informative, The Corporation includes forty interviews with corporate insiders and critics – including Milton Friedman, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, and Michael Moore – plus true confessions, case studies and strategies for change.

[yeah I was too lazy to use my own words ]

I personally thought the usage of the most popular/powerful leftists out there (Chomsky, Zinn, Moore) was total overkill. If they stuck to the interviews of the industry insiders the documentary would not and could not simply be tinged as leftist propoganda. The intended audience is unclear… is this film supposed to be a startup packet for wanna be hardcore leftists, or is it supposed to appeal to those who just don’t know about the nature of corporations?

The ammount of research and effort which went into putting this film together is pleasantly surprising (unlike most independent films). The quality of artwork and animation are even more surprising. My favorite part of the documentary is when all the traits of a psycopath are attributed to modern day corporations. The idea was borrowed [plug and play] from a book written by Joel Bakan. The most powerful part of the film was definitely the interviews which were done. You can see a list of all the people interviewed and thier backgrounds on the [url=http://www.thecorporation.com]official website[/url]

I didn’t get the DVD yet, but I am thinking about it. It has many extras which may be worth checking out. You can add this to your collection of films to lend to your ignorant Gungho Republican neighbor. Also for those involved in education this would be great for a classroom environment. I am hoping someone does some documentaries on things like the stock market, its culture, its flaws, and weak points and also I would love to see a film about the mysteries surrounding how interest rates work and effect the world. When Greenspan makes a statement it has an immediate impact on the stock market. I am wondering if this is too dry of a subject to do a film on. Afterall ecnomics is boring as hell.

I just want to add that it took me quite a while to finish watching this… because either it was too much info to digest in one sitting, or I couldn’t find three hours to just watch it. So one day at work. I left it playing in the corner of my screen while I did my work.

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There is over an hours worth of video of the show on the site. It’s really worth watching. If you care about the issue even if you don’t watch the film and watch this documentary you would be better off.

I had actually watched this (ghosts of Rwanda) before so I knew a lot about the political issues they tried to cover in the film (Hotel Rwanda). I thought it was excellent how they quoted word for word statements made by U.N. and U.S. officials in Hotel Rwanda. Some of the things coming out of the white house are just horrific to hear. Politically this film has good timing because it coincides with what is going on in Darfur and brings attention to the issue of ethnicly motivated massacres/genocide.

There is a segment on the PBS film called “The Man Everybody Remembers” it’s about a Senegalese (Muslim) U.N. peace officer who helped save an incredible amount of lives. Which is very similar to the main character in the Hotel Rwanda.

There was something that really annoyed me about the film. They show alcohol being consumed and served so many times… I dont know maybe its just because I’m such a Muslim. It was really irritating to see it continuously. It was like a subliminal message to get drunk or something. I wonder if I would be as offended if they kept eating pork.

This might sound really weird. But I think this film could have been a little bit more graphic. I don’t think we can truly ever understand how horrible it is to have half of your neighborhood coming to kill you and your entire family. Actually try to picture that for a moment. Reminds me of what happened in Gujrat. If theres anything we can learn from this situation is that we all have the potential to do spectacular things if God blesses us. But just as their is potential for good to take place anywhere, there is potential for ignorance and mischief to spread. I couldn’t believe how the hutus took over the radio waves.. that is super scary stuff… things like that make you appreciate living in a liberal society in the west where most propoganda is done subliminaly and not overtly.

Also its very very interesting to note that in Rwanda after the genocide took place the number of Rwandans who are Muslims Doubled! Now they are at 14% of the entire population. Muslims helped hide people during the massacres and many Tutsis were killed in churches where they fled for safety. You can read a Washington Post article about that here. One of the segments of the pbs documentary also covers in great detail some massacres which took place at a church.

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Now for the Review:

First some background info. This new animated series was released in 2003 on MTV. For some odd reason MTV decided to drop it. Season One has 13 episodes.

As you can see from these ultra cool still images… this cartoon isn’t your 60s Spiderman nor is it your 90s Spiderman. CGI was used to make this cartoon. There are some matrix style scenes and there is some nifty new school artwork done to make this a truly modern day Spiderman. A very conscious effort was made to make this series hip to today’s realities. For example everyone carries a cell phone, and there are references to modern day pop culture. There are many little things like this which would be unheard of in the prior series but that’s part of what makes this so cool. Also it not just brings spiderman into the cyberage but also stays true to the original spiderman’s character and outlook. He still has that witty Humor.

Since the intended audience is an older one there are some unnecessarily haram things in this new Spiderman. Haram curvature to begin with. Secondly there are some adult like situations which would never be on the 90s cartoon. There are only a handful in the entire first season. But nonetheless its something you can’t dismiss, unfortunately its there. Again this was made for the MTV audience so that helps explain why. Another thing which would be unheard of in the past is that people actually die.

The Action scenes are really smooth and are very entertaining to watch. The graphic work is excellent. I wish every cartoon today met these production standards. Millions of dollars must have went into this. The entire season is available on DVD. I hope that someone will pick up the series so we can see a season two. Especially since season one ended in an exhilarating manner.

The Plot itself is reallly interesting since they introduce some new characters. Peter, Mary Jane, and Harry Osborne are living on campus at Columbia (off the bat) rather than in flushing, queens. Its interesting how they show a student protest going on at campus (like the real deal). I thought that was pretty interesting. Especially since the issue was about social justice. Most old school cartoons avoid the harsh realities of life (completely). While this was made to be a tad more realistic OR more in tune with our reality. I was surprised to see King Pin so early on. The story was changed up quite a bit from the classical versions. Also there was no aunt May (thank god). What’s even more interesting is that peter gets into a situation with a girl other than MJ, ha. Which was really funny, esp since they portrayed her to be….. OK, I don’t waint to spoil it.

I think this DVD is totally underpromoted. Barely anyone knows about it. Esp since MTV ditched it. It doesn’t even have it’s own website. But I commend it, and I recommend it for you to watch.

Check out these screen shots:

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here’s what he has to say about this DVD, which btw is 6 hours long!:

“I seriously give “One of a Kind” 5 stars and then some and I know that my fans will love it too. In fact, if you watch it, and you ain’t impressed (like, within the first two minutes of watching the menu page,) you ain’t human.”

And now here is what I have to say:

This 2-DVD Disc Set has totally overwhelmed me. I had many expectations of this DVD since RVD is my favorite wrestler.

Here is where it delivers:
-16 full length matches! and it’s against people like Sabu, Jerry Lynn, Lance Storm. Heck even the three WWE matches included were amazing.
-Commentary (alternative audio track) on two of the matches by Paul Heyman and Mr. Pay Per View himself. I wish there could have been commentary for all of the matches.. but hey you can’t expect everything.
-Some of the extras were cool such as the before they were supserstars bit.
- I particularly enjoyed how the film stepped through his career.
-I like the fact that they included one of his tag team matches with Sabu

What I think is missing:
In my opinion some of his best matches ever are missing:
-Summer Slam ’02 Vs. Chris Benoit when he wins the IC title
-His performance in the first ever Elimination Chamber, he kicked butt
-His match against Brock Lesnar in 2002 King of the Ring tournament. His rivalry against Brock by itself needs was super cool.
-His hardcore match against Undertaker
-He had 2 excellent matches against HHH (one for the Worlds heavyweight championship, and the other a Canadian Lumberjack match). In both matches RVD schools HHH on matt skills.
-His match against the Rock on Smackdown when ECW made its invasion run.
-His ladder match against Eddie Guererro

There could have been a third DVD with all this cool stuff. But I guess they wanted to focus on his hardcore matches and the earlier part of his career. But this list shows how he has faced all the big names in the WWE and has always held his own. It’s a shame that they haven’t let him hold the title yet.

What irked me:
-Watching a clip where him and Sabu frog splash a guy on the table from opposite sides of the ring.. when the table brakes a huge piece tears through RVD’s eyelid.. that was pretty scary and gross. All the ECW hardcore matches made me feel kind of weird… as cool as it was, I couldn’t help but think how stupid it was. I mean sure I enjoyed seeing RVD come running from one side of the ring and leap over the top rope and land a few rows deep into the crowd right on Bam Bam Bigelow but I couldn’t help but feel a little queezy. Especially when RVD tossed Sabu onto a twisted chair.

I think the $14 bucks I paid was really worth it. Like I said it was overwhelming. I did not get to watch every single match in its entire length (6 hours is a long time to commit to watching wrestling matches!). And thats what makes this DVD so great. Since there is so much on it. It will take a long time to get tired of it. My father and grandfather were even really impressed. Usually I’d get yelled at for watching so much wrestling. But everytime I would put it on they would want to watch too.

Full Contents/Tracklist:

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One of my favorite segments on the documentary is when an al Jazeera reporter sits with an Army media correspondent in Qatar during the invasion of Iraq. The reporter poses some really tough questions drilling holes in the almost flimsy arguments put forward by the military officer. You can’t help but wonder if the officer reallly believes in what he is saying or if he is just doing his job. At one point his face totally turns red when he is caught off guard by a tough question.

Al Jazeera’s might is highlighted by showing how they take firm stances on issues like broadcasting images of captured soldiers and bodies of civiliains suffering from collateral damage (not to mention the broadcasting of Bin Ladens videos to the world). This has earned them condemnation from the White house as well as international noteriety. The height of their almost unreal defiance to the biggest military power in the world is shown when the documentary focuses on the death of one its reporters who was killed by an alleged balant U.S. attack on their position.

What was really interesting for me was to see the faces and personalities running the show. Also you get the sense that the people running it are very modernized i.e. most women do not wear hijab, most men do not have beards and smoke cigarettes. You get the sense that they are pretty western themselves yet are still highly critical of the west and its policies towards their turf, the Arab world. They make an attempt to show that they acknowledge that their journalism is biased towards the plight of the arab world therefore they show the pictures which other media outlets won’t. They see this as their moral duty to attempt to shed light on what they see as the eclipsed part of the debate.

For an American watching they would get the feeling of being a little more educated on the world. They may come to respect al Jazeera as a credible news organization. They may even turn to it as an alternate news source (which is truly an alternative), or they can at least go to it to get the Arab world’s prespective on the latest hot issue.

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Moore doesn’t fail to remind America how Bush got into office. In fact he reveals how it all went down! He shows previously unseen footage to the public where African American Congress members are shut down one after the other in a bid to point out election irregularities. In typical Michael Moorish Fashion he does some of his comical candid camera routines. He chases down congressmen trying to get them to sign up their kids to go to war, reads the patriot act to congress from an ice cream truck, interviews the mother of a fallen soldier, and talks to kids from the ghetto about feeling compelled to go to war to make some money. He does these skits in order to invoke sentiment from the viewers of the film. Many people leave the film feeling upset and angry at our current administration.

What makes this film so effective is the usage of hard hitting facts. Michael Moore has issued a challenge with a prize of $10,000 to anyone who can find a factual error in his film. On his website http://www.michaelmoore.com the references to every single fact presented in the film have been released. What were the Objections raised by Moore’s critics? “Lies?”, “Twisting Truth”, “Propaganda”, “Opinions posed as facts”, and “Personal Vendetta” were some of the many things which were said. A detailed comparison of the facts found in the 911 Commission Report and the facts presented in Fahrenheit 911 will also soon be available on the site.

In case the message behind the movie was not clearly understood Michael made his motives very clear during the Democratic National Convention in Boston. In a gathering not related to the DNC Moore stated: “… my appeal to the Nader voters, to the greens out there, is that we have a different job to do this year”. The prime objective is clearly to GET BUSH OUT. Michael Moore just doesn’t release films. He initiatives his action plans in the form of campaigns which mobilize the masses. Moore has encouraged people to hold group discussions on the film. When asked about file sharing he said that he has no problem with people sharing his film, as long as his message gets out. After 911 the common American has now become politically astute. Films like Fahrenheit 9/11 are ideal for snapping the average major news network watching apathetic American out of it. R&B singer Mary J Blige stated “I have to vote this year. After seeing that movie, I can’t do anything else”. Her sentiments are shared by many who have watched this film. This may have a tremendous impact on the November 2004 elections considering that in the year 2000 only 51.3% of people in the voting age population actually came out to cast their votes! After experiencing 911, and perhaps after watching Fahrenheit 911 this large pool of disinterested nonvoters will likely diminish.

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