Animated film chronicles the life of Muhammad

Forget about dancing genies, buxom harem girls and dashing heroes in mythical Arab lands bent on saving ravishing princesses. In this animated movie, the issue is one of divine love, devotion and a struggle for God.

But “Muhammad: The Last Prophet” is more than a 90-minute animated feature chronicling the life of Islam’s founding prophet, say its producers and distributors. It’s about a struggle that began 1,400 years ago and is still being waged in places as glitzy as Hollywood and as gritty as Fallujah.

“In a volatile political climate such as today’s, there is a lot of interest in learning about Islam and Muslims and the legacy of the prophet,” said Oussama Jammal, chief executive of Joliet, Ill.-based Fine Media Group, the movie’s North American distributors. “There’s also a need to try to explain the religion and the prophet in a historically accurate way. Hopefully, this movie can help.”

But making a movie about Islam’s prophet -- even in the most tranquil of times -- is a difficult undertaking. Islam bans depicting Muhammad or his closest followers, and the film’s producers were careful not to show his face. Many of the scenes were shot to allow viewers to see the images through his eyes.

The film makes a point of showing the respect with which Muhammad held other monotheistic faiths. Twice there are references to Islam’s God also being the God of Jews and Christians.

It’s a message of tolerance that viewers who recently attended a screening said is painfully absent today, on the part of both extremist Muslims and many in the West.

The $10-million film was produced by Badr International, a British Virgin Islands company.

The movie debuted Sunday for a four-day run in Los Angeles and 36 other North American cities. Now Jammal hopes for a second release in the United States and has his sights set on Europe.