The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is known as a highly conservative place among many because it defines itself as a religious country. But who said 'religious' means conservative and intolerant? Daniel Malak, the director of the short documentary "One", discovers religious base of the UAE through his camera and encounters. "One" is about the religious tolerance, not difference; it is about similarities, being united, being 'one'.
The documentary is released for the first time during Abu Dhabi Film Festival in 2014. It echoed its voice and reached to a big crowd after its showcasing. The subject is quite sensitive for today's world, yet the movie touches to everybody in the same way and nobody dares to see the other as 'the other' after watching it. "One" has a great potential of uniting different religions, sects, nations, people because of its message. The main reason I am writing about it is to make sure I also can contribute spreading the word so that more people can see this beautifully conveyed documentary.
I had the chance of watching it during a screening at The Space Abu Dhabi, one of my favorite venues in town, along with the director Daniel Malak and the Reverend Andrew Thompson (one of the lead characters in the documentary). I had the chance of bombarding them with my questions when the scenes and lines from the movie was still echoing in my mind.
Daniel wakes up one day with an image like above in his mind while he was looking for a subject for his next documentary. He comes across Andrew and tells him about his idea. Very same day Andrew gets acceptance to proceed with his book, "Jesus of Arabia", he wants to share the same message through another medium: how similar Islam and Christianity actually are...
This documentary is a message to be carried forward. We must make this message centre of our life, carry it in our hearts... so that we can eliminate war from our world. The documentary is also up on YouTube because Daniel wants it to reach as many people/nations/religions as possible. You can also find a link below at the end of the review. I will let the images and dialogues speak for themselves now.
- One of the most important functions of religion, any religion, is to draw people together in communities. We are meant to be in relationship with God and we are meant to be in relationship with one another. To learn together, to pray together, to encourage one another...
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- Diversity between human beings is natural. As long as I have an independent mind and you have your owns, [...] it is only natural that divergence should occur. However we are meant to have some common factors which would bring us together and these common factor should overcome the differences and render them as normal.
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- I think it is important that we don't ignore our differences, those differences are real, those differences cannot be reconciled. We have got to first of all establish what we have in common and then to look at what we have in difference.
- On the night of the 31st December in 2010, a very strange accident had happened in Egypt. At El Kedeseen Church, on New Years Eve, it was very strange to the Egyptians, the church was bombed. Later that week, we had our mass. That night, one third of the church were Muslims. There were about 350 people, people of different religions and races, local men and women, Arabs from every country, Muslims, non-Muslims...
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Believe me, religions are nothing but windows, through which the worshipper approaches God. I feel the spirit of Jesus, son of Mary, in the Holy Qur'an, and in the Bible a glimpse of the Prophet Mohammed's spirit.
*All the screenshots are taken from the documentary. Feel free to share the video and the review with as many people as possible.
** Why not translate the documentary into your language? Why not organize community screenings yourselves? Please reach out and I will connect you to the director.
