Opinion: What calls to boycott ‘The Woman King’ are really saying about America
On October 7, 2011, the film “The Women of Al-Jalaa” was released to theaters nationwide, and a review is currently being posted on the Huffington Post. In the wake of this film, the hashtag #IBelieveAlJalaa has gained massive momentum, and women around the world are using the hashtag to express their outrage over the film, which many feel is distasteful and demeaning to women.
And with that, a huge backlash has been expressed, and “The Women of Al-Jalaa” has been the target of an online boycott, which has resulted in its distributors and even the director being criticized by individuals and companies across the globe.
According to the Huffington Post, the film was produced and directed by Amr Hamzawy for his own production company, Al-Jalaa Productions, and is a “parody of the Prophet Muhammad and a drama about the life and times of the Islamic prophet.” This has become the reason for the uproar, and a lot of people are demanding an apology.
Unfortunately, these boycotts are not a new phenomena. Even before a film with a similar storyline was released, a similar backlash occurred after a different film was released about the Islamic Prophet Mohammad in 2011.
In 2011, a movie titled “The Women of Al-Jalaa” was released, and was praised by many people including filmmaker Amr Hamzawy, who made it himself. The film is a drama about the lives of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad, and is based on his original novel of the same name. It is a very different story than any of the other movies about Muhammad, and one that is very controversial.
A review of the film can be seen on the Huffington Post, and it is clear from that article that there was a very different message that the distributors and the film makers,