Mooz-Lum

Evan Ross deserves an Oscar. This was an award winning performance for someone so new to the industry. Nia Long also gives one of the best performances of her career to date. As expected Danny Glover plays one of his better known characters {a Mister-type, think Color Purple}. He pulls this off as only he can. Roger G.Smith's maturity shows how much he has grown as an actor since "Malcolm X". His performance is also dead-on. He plays the stern Dad that many of us have grown up with. However it is the climatic end of this tale that really sets this movie apart from the rest. Grown men (macho-types) nearly came to tears at the end of this movie. This is a must-see! Enjoy it with your family.

We have watched more movies than at any time in our lives and agreed that this one is near the top in terms of acting, content and relevance. Finding engrossing things has always been hit-or-miss but this is hit all the way. They are the kinds of performances I would use to judge others, as in, "Was it as good as _________?"

Not sure why a studio would hype a film that is boring, poorly made and not about anything, glad my date bought the tickets. The acting and directing were especially poor, which was a surprise, Danny Glover is one of my all-time favorites.

Just because a movie is bad does not mean it had a small budget, I doubt this movie had a tiny budget, but it's played off that way to compensate for how bad it is.

If you are looking for a story about the Muslim experience I would recommend reading "Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention", you can probably buy it for the money you would waste if you bought tickets to this crap.

I think that is a question people should ask themselves.

In interviews, I got the impression from Qasim Basir and Roger Guenveur Smith that this movie would be about prejudice and hatred against Muslims. Which I think is a very important issue especially these days. But while that is part of "Mooz-lum", it seems to me to play a minor role.

The core theme of the movie really are the troubles of this young man with his religious community, where those troubles originate and whether he will overcome them. When Qasim Basir says the movie would appeal to everybody, he automatically sees it from his theistic point of view. Because this movie should indeed appeal to everybody who is faithful and not a bigot - no matter what their faith might be. But if you are against religious institutions, you will probably not enjoy this movie unless you for some reason romanticize Islam. As I said in the beginning: ask yourself whether you would still like it if it was about Christianity. Personally, I cannot stand movies that promote the idea that a certain religion is good, that faith in general is important and that religious communities are great.

Also, the movie at one point makes the argument that sticks and stones really are more harmful than words, calling one of the most awful characters in the movie a "nice guy" - just because he is not violent. I find it reprehensible how lenient people often are with those who cause considerable psychological damage to others.

And from a more "technical" point of view, there are quite a couple of scenes in there that seem over-dramatic, and visually there were rare elements that made it look unprofessional (e.g. cheesy titles design and I am pretty sure there were flat-out mistakes in one or two picture transitions).

What I do give this movie credit for is the fact that it for the most part looks decently shot, that it does tackle the issues of conservatism among religious people, prejudice/hatred against Muslims and a fantastic soundtrack.

So to sum up - if you are "pro-faith" and tolerant, you will probably enjoy this movie. But if you are agnostic/atheist and even though tolerant towards religious people still think that faith is a bad idea - you will probably not enjoy "Mooz-lum".

President Obama said in his 2011 State of the Union Address - "American Muslims are part of the American Family".

Mooz-lum was in theaters less than 1 month from this historic statement. A story about a yong Muslim boy Tariq (Evan Ross) growing up as a Muslim in America. We experience his challenges, his rebellion and most of all his emotional struggle in accepting the religion that he was born into while living in the country that sometimes reject and ridicule it.

I strongly suggest non-Muslims take a leap of understanding the American Family and go see this film. Directed by Qasim "Q" Basir and a star studded cast including Nia Long, Evan Ross, Danny Glover and more.