Mesih ( fa, مسیح, Masih), more commonly and officially referred to as ''The Messiah'', but also referred to as 'Jesus', ''Good Tidings of the Savior'' ( fa, بِشارت مُنجی, Bašārat me-najy) ''Jesus, the Spirit of God'' is a 2007 film from the

Islamic Republic of Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, directed by

Nader Talebzadeh Nader Talebzadeh ( fa, نادر طالب‌زاده) also known as Nader Ordoubadi was an Iranian conservative journalist and filmmaker. Early life Talebzadeh was born in 1953 or 1954 in Tehran. His father Mansour Talebzadeh Ordoubadi, was a ...

(1953—2022), depicting the life of Jesus from an Islamic perspective, based not only on the

canonical gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

, but also the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...

, and, it would seem, the Gospel of Barnabas. The latter conforms to the Islamic interpretation of the origins of Christianity. Iranian actor Ahmad Soleimani Nia plays the role of Jesus. Some Islamic organizations cite it in support of the

Islamic view of Jesus In Islam, Jesus ( ar, عِيسَى ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ, lit= Isa, son of Maryam, translit=ʿĪsā ibn Maryam) is believed to be the penultimate prophet and messenger of God and the Messiah. He is also considered to be the prophet se ...

. Talebzadeh said of '' The Passion of the Christ'', "

Gibson Gibson may refer to: People * Gibson (surname) Businesses * Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment * Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based * Gi ...

's film is a very good film. I mean that it is a well-crafted movie but the story is wrong." The film has two endings, one from the Christian Bible and one from the Qur'an. It is a two-hour-plus feature film and a TV series shot for Iranian TV.

Cast

*Ahmad Soleimani Nia -

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

*Valiollah Momeni *

Ahmad Najafi Ahmad ( ar, أحمد, ʾAḥmad) is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other spellings of the name include Ahmed and Ahmet. Etymology The word derives from the root (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from the ve ...

* Fathali Oveisi *Morteza Zarabi - Judas

Crew

*Director of Photography: ''Sadegh Mianji'' *Sound: ''Seyed Jalal Hosseini'' *Set & Costume Designer: ''Ahmad Soleimani-Nia'' *Make-up Designer: ''Morteza Zarrabi'' *Executive Producer: ''Abdollah Saeedi'' *Production Assistant: ''Saeed Kazemi'' *Photographer: ''Saeed Sourati'' *Music: ''Loris Tjeknavorian''

Series

The movie has been adapted into a television series and shown on Iranian TV. '' Variety'' stated that "With over 1,000 actors and extras, it is one of the largest film productions ever attempted in Iran. The longer version of the film is airing as 20 45-minute episodes after a theatrical version is released here." The series is being dubbed in many languages, including Arabic for showing on Arab television stations. A showing of the series based on the film by two Lebanese television stations Al-Manar and National Broadcasting Network during the Holy month of

Ramadan , type = islam , longtype = Religious , image = Ramadan montage.jpg , caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...

was suspended after the broadcast of one initial episode, as the Christian religious authorities in the country demanded broadcasts to be suspended because many portrayals in the film contradict with traditional Christian church beliefs about Jesus. These were scheduled broadcasts in a series adapted to television and dubbed into

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

and shown on many Arab television stations during Ramadan. The film portrays Jesus as a prophet and not as the Son of God and claims he was not crucified and that someone else was crucified in his place. Talebzadeh's biopic shows

Judas Iscariot Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betraye ...

being crucified instead of Jesus. Many Christians believe Jesus is the Son of God and thus part of the

Holy Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

and that he died by crucifixion to accomplish humanity's salvation before resurrecting and ascending to heaven.

Awards and festivals

The film was played at the Philadelphia Film Festival. The 2007 Religion Today Film Festival in Italy has given the movie an award for promoting interfaith understanding.

Notes and references

External links