Le Prophète

Greetings again from the darkness. An animated, artistic, philosophical parable based on a 1923 book from a Lebanese poet … it's as if the filmmakers went out of their way to make sure most everyone would be turned off by some aspect. Instead, director Roger Allers delivers a beautiful and thoughtful representation of nine of the 26 stories from Kahlil Gibran's influential best-seller.

The story revolves around Mustafa, an artist and poet who was exiled seven years earlier when his words were deemed harmful to the local regime. Mustafa is informed that he will be granted his freedom to return home, and as he is escorted through town, Mustafa periodically delivers his insightful and inspiring words to the people of the land. These make up the 9 segments (Freedom, Children, Marriage, Work, Love, etc) within the movie, and each of these segments is the unique work of a different renowned artist/director. The artistic style and presentation varies between each segment, and some employ the use of music (Damien Rice, Glen Hansard).

As Mustafa recites the words of Gibran, the individual segments unfold with the artistry of each director. These blend well with the overall story which also features Mustafa's housekeeper and her young daughter (who initially doesn't speak). The voice acting is top notch thanks to Liam Neeson (Mustafa), Salma Hayek (the housekeeper), Quvenzhane Wallis (Almitra), John Krasinski (a lovesick guard), Alfred Molina (Sergeant), and Frank Langella (regime leader). Mr. Neeson is especially effective as the soothing voice of Gibran's words.

This was evidently a pet project of Salma Hayek, who also is Producer of the film. She wisely enlisted director Roger Allers, who has ties to Disney and the hugely popular The Lion King. The film is Disney-esque in its approach, but is certainly not aimed at kids. It's really a blend of the segmented structure of Fantasia, the adult-themed style of Watership Down, and the philosophical meanderings of Gandhi.

Gibran writes that "all work is noble", and the work of these filmmakers certainly is. As with any poetry or philosophy, one must be receptive to the message and willing to be inspired. If not, it's merely "love and flowers".

Kahlil Gibran's book The Prophet was an engaging mix of poetry, spirituality and philosophy musing upon subjects including love, food, and death. It's quite lovely.

While the book has no story or characters, someone decided to try and turn it into a movie. The basic premise is a young, mute girl and her mother meet an imprisoned philosopher the state is afraid of and travel a little with him. Along the way, he muses on subjects like love and food and death.

The framing story, done by the folks behind is very engaging, with likable characters and a simple but appealing story. The problem is the musings, each a Gibran poems animated by a different animator and either read by Liam Neeson (perfect voice for it) or turned into a pop song.

I hated most of these. The animation is rarely interesting enough to stand on its own, and because there are tons of pauses to let the animation breath, Gibran's words are unfocussed and lack their melodic rhythms. Also the songs are pretty dreadful.

The end result is an hour of entertaining drama broken up by tedious little animation of poems that stand better on their own.

Some people seem to have really enjoyed this, but I can't recommend it. Or at least, not unless you fast forward through all the poetry.

beautiful.delicate. not surprising but precious as support of memories. touching. nice. a well known book who obtains a decent animation who translates, with grace, an universe. fascinating for its simplicity, it is a poem in image, a small drama, definition of emotions, hope, the things who defines each life, becoming its purpose. not great. but useful. for the not complicated story who preserves its universal message. for the basic drawing. for the splendid remember of truth in lovely manner. a portrait of life. a tale about freedom and dreams. and about the source of happiness. a film far to be special. but interesting. for the status of window to yourself.

The movie is made as an impression of Ghibran... and when you talk about truth, its hard to find any person who gets acquainted with it. Now instead when u start visualizing truth it finds itself in a difficult position to present itself in a understandable format and this film does it perfectly ...

Oh my .. i couldn't control my tears in the end of the film not that its emotional but the expression of truth always gets answered without the senses ... thanks to the director who felt in his heart to make Ghibran on the screen and i am debt to him my lifetime for just this...

The best presentation of Ghibran till date..

Truth is always ONE... it just takes our time to realize it, coz its always there and we just don't see it ...

I bought the ticket for this movie with very low expectations, but God was I wrong!

Soon after the opening scene, I realized that this was no ordinary movie. It's different from any other I've seen... and in so many ways: the mind-blowing messages; the brilliant blending of poetry, music, painting, and animation; and the way it propels one's imagination up to an entirely new level, all the time staying true to the soul of Khalil Gibran's artistic genius.

I highly recommend this exceptional movie to everyone who loves life and appreciates art in all its forms. Being a sensual mind opener, this masterpiece succeeds at making the viewer not only enjoy it, but enjoy existence as a whole too.

Hats off to Salma Hayek, Liam Neeson, Gabriel Yared, and of course Roger Allers.

If you are tired of all the pretentious movies out there, don't miss out on this simple one. After all, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, right?

9/10 (being the 'stingy with the grades' reviewer that I am)