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A serious, ambitious historical epic that dramatizes the birth of Islam with unusual restraint and scale. Its offscreen treatment of Muhammad is both a practical solution and a defining artistic choice, giving the film a reverent, processional quality that many viewers find powerful.
Where to watch: Buy
Tue · 2h 58m
Director: Moustapha Akkad
Starring: Anthony Quinn, Irene Papas, Michael Ansara
In sixth-century Mecca, Prophet Muhammad receives his first revelation from God as a messenger. Three years later, he's not alone in his quest and publicly declares his prophecy. Muhammad is fought by Abu Sufian and his wife Hind, rulers of Mecca. Muhammad's followers are hunted and tortured but he continues his calling.
Moustapha Akkad
Anthony Quinn, Irene Papas, Michael Ansara
A serious, ambitious historical epic that dramatizes the birth of Islam with unusual restraint and scale. Its offscreen treatment of Muhammad is both a practical solution and a defining artistic choice, giving the film a reverent, processional quality that many viewers find powerful.
The Message is one of the most unusual epics of the 1970s: a big, expensive historical drama built around absence. By refusing to show Muhammad directly, the film turns its attention to the people around him and to the social pressure, persecution, and conviction that shaped the early spread of Islam. That choice gives the film a formal discipline that still feels distinctive decades later.
Moustapha Akkad stages the story with sincerity and scale, leaning on strong production design, sweeping movement, and a classical sense of dramatic escalation. Anthony Quinn gives the film its most recognizable star power, but the real force here is the movie’s commitment to respect and clarity rather than spectacle for its own sake.
It can feel stately and didactic, and viewers expecting a conventional adventure film may find it slow. But as a cross-cultural historical epic, it has real significance and a seriousness of purpose that explains why it remains so widely remembered and revisited.
Jens Aksel Takle (4★) · 309 likes
After a countless films about Jesus Christ, the prophet in the christian faith, we have to ask ourselves, has there ever been a film about the prophet of the Islamic faith, Muhammad? Yes, there is, it's titled "The Message". But since Mohammad is such a holy figure, he was not to be shown on the screen. The story is told through his uncle, Hamza (Anthony Quinn) and his other followers. But there's some scenes where people speaks directly to the
Gabriel Ballard (3★) · 251 likes
POV: you’re the prophet Muhammad and we’re the boys trying to start up this cool trendy religion of Islam and everyone dislikes us even though we’re the nicest and chillest people around town
NURULLAH (5★) · 162 likes
Peygamber efendimizin hayatını ve İslamiyetin yayılmasını en güzel şekilde anlatan tek film..... Bir ikincisi yok... Oyunculuklar harika ötesi özellikle HAMZA rolünde Antony Quinn... Aslan avcısı Hamza... Filme girişi... atının üzerinde, boynunda aslan postu asılı gelişi beni mest etmiştir hep... Ve aklıma kazınan repliği '' onlar bizi görüyor bizde onları.. gözümün gördüğü hiçbirşey den korkmam''....Ve şehit düştüğü o sahne yaklaşırken içimi hep sıkıntı hüzün çökmesi.... Ayrıca Halit Bin Velit' in Müslüman oluşu ve Zeyd'in ona '' senin kılıcın İslamiyetin karşısındaki… more
Cole Duffy (3.5★) · 134 likes
So, how does one tell the story of Muhammad and the beginnings of Islam while respecting the teachings of the Quran, thus keeping the prophet offscreen entirely? By placing your focus on the people who surrounded him and on the struggle Islam faced to be recognized as a religion. The Message handles this challenge very well, with the direct stares into the camera from characters when they speak to Muhammad break the fourth wall of this historical epic in a
aysenur (4★) · 98 likes
Every Muslim youngster has seen this movie—or at least parts of it—with their parents during Ramadan, that much I am certain of. This has evolved into a sort of Ramadan tradition, particularly in Turkey. I occasionally caught bits of it on TV, sometimes dubbed in Turkish as my parents would watch, but this year on the first day of Ramadan, I saw the entire movie in its original language (English) for the first time. It is a widely-acknowledged truth among
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A faith-adjacent historical drama about conviction under pressure, with strong moral seriousness.
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religious origin story, faith and persecution, historical epic, cultural bridge-building, devotional cinema, community formation, messianic calling, resistance to oppression
historical epic, religious drama, desert setting, faith, persecution, 1970s cinema, costume design, cultural history, devotional, classical storytelling