Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet

Screenplay by Roger Allers, based on the novel by Kahlil Gibran

From the trailer and the synopsis, Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet was my eagerly-anticipated animated film screening at the Fantasia International Film Festival this year. So how does the text that I read on my PDF translate to the big screen? All I can say that for the most part this film is a breathtaking piece of animation from different animators, but just like the PDF version, Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet is a complicated piece of literature that deals with a lot of metaphors that can go over your head as the animation dazzles you. I also noticed that the youngest audience member for this animated film was in his late pre-teens, or early teens. Roger Allers (The Lion King) is the principal director and has the help of various other directors. Guest animators include Tomm Moore (The Secret Of Kells), Nina Paley (Sita Sings The Blues), Joann Sfar (The Rabbi's Cat), and veteran animator Bill Plympton. It should also be noted that actress Salma Hayek was very invested with this project and is one of the producers of the film, as well a voice actress.

Kamila (Salma Hayek) is having a hard time raising her troubled daughter Almitra (Quvenzhané Wallis) and working for Mustafa (Liam Neeson), an imprisoned writer and poet. On this day, Mustafa is to be released from home imprisonment, so he befriends Almitra and try to connect with her. Along his journey to the boat that he will sail away to his home, he meets his friends and supporters, to which he imparts his wisdom and philosophies. They range from subjects on love, marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, work, joy and sorrow, houses, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, freedom, reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and evil, prayer, pleasure, beauty, religion, and death. These themes are brought to life by the guest animators. Before Mustafa is placed on his ship back home, he meets with the chief sergeant who has drawn up a contract on the basic premise that he must renounce his profane ideas as blasphemies, or face imprisonment. 

All I can say is that this is my second favourite animated film of the year for its use of various vibrant and rich animated styles that bring life to this metaphorically-rich text. There is almost too much to see on the first viewing, however one of my favourite chapters had to be the one about love that came around the end. As for the metaphors and allusions, most of them went over my head, so I will need to revisit the film, but not before I do a study on the text or read the entire PDF that I skimmed through. Even though there is a profound message at the end of the central story, I found the animation was not as alluring as the guest animator chapters, and I found the story between the mother and daughter generic. This may not be for the younger animated fans of Frozen, but like this year's Inside Out, Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet is a game changer in animation for bringing to life this classic and sacred text and showing various styles of colourful animation.

Ratings:

The Central story 3.5/5 
The Guest Animations 4.5/5 

 
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