Reviews of Islamaphobia 36

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  Excellent work
  A review of Islamaphobia
  by elliottfranks on 07/01/2007
  Considering this was made prior to 7/7 it shows tremendous foresight, it really captures the feelings at that time of so many frightened commuters - I travel on the tube in London every day and the unique claustrophobic atmosphere really does encourage these kind of thoughts to turn over in your mind. The ultra close-up camera angles together with Mr Toynton's London 'geezer'... Considering this was made prior to 7/7 it shows tremendous foresight, it really captures the feelings at that time of so many frightened commuters - I travel on the tube in London every day and the unique claustrophobic atmosphere really does encourage these kind of thoughts to turn over in your mind. The ultra close-up camera angles together with Mr Toynton's London 'geezer' accent also help make this short an excellent piece of work - it had me on the edge of my seat and the twist at the end brought a smile to my face. Thank you for making it. read
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  Fully Fantastic
  A review of Islamaphobia
  by smash on 03/25/2007
  What an insightful piece of film making this was... i have to congratulate you for the making of this movie. The opening credits were well presented, and the use of a monochromatic stock was well chosen, leading us into the internal consciousness of the main character, rather than slavishly absorbing the exterior of his world. From the off i was impressed by the subtle cues,... What an insightful piece of film making this was... i have to congratulate you for the making of this movie.
  
  The opening credits were well presented, and the use of a monochromatic stock was well chosen, leading us into the internal consciousness of the main character, rather than slavishly absorbing the exterior of his world.
  
  From the off i was impressed by the subtle cues, both visual and acoustic. The Islamic music was nuanced, and wove a wonderful thread through-out the movie. I was taken on a paranoiac journey of anxiety, made all the more real given the reality that has since taken place by violent mass murderers, under the same circumstances that are represented in your movie.
  
  Your use of the sound bite heartbeat, was well chosen, and it tapped into the heart of the Islamaphobia that is now prevalent in many parts of the UK. That is not to say, that the threat from violent and nefarious forces of evil is not real, where ever you may be and from whichever cultural or social group you might come from, but rather it is all too often sensationalized beyond its real impact on society. Your juxtaposition of the counterpoint in the final scene was succinct and well contrived. It might well be relevant to note the stats on cigarette deaths each year on the NHS, which cost countless billions to maintain and deal with, all at the tax-payers expense, and with little contribution from the tobacco industry to foot the bill for the outcome of their nefarious commercial practice.
  
  I live in a flat with a Muslim chap at the moment, and although i think this is not necessarily common, we have found that with some mutual tolerance and forthright communication, that is both honest and open, we enjoy living together sharing each others peculiarities and peccadillo's.
  
  It would be a boring world if we were all the same, and it is as well to recall in moments of historical tension's the tenet's upon which the liberal western democracies were born. The sagacious words of J.S.Mill in his treatise 'on Liberty' echo like a clarion call for societal and individual tolerance of unpopular members in times of social unrest. let us not kowtow to our own fears, when we have so many mutual dreams to live together.
  
  Technically, your film was sound. The editing was good, and an interesting array of camera angles made for a multidimensional inner journey. The sound editing was nigh on faultless, but then i have a crappy sound system, and had the sound turned right up...in trust that you weren't going to bombard me with a shock scream at the end!....maybe a little more care needed then in the final sound production, volume wise.
  
  I thought that the action shots were good, although i did think that on occasion you could have done with an image stabilizer unit, a little too much camera shake in some of the scenes, that was not necessary.
  
  overall i have to say this was a classy film, well contrived and constructed, and you can be well proud of the work you have put in to formulate this interesting and thought provoking, at times profound, piece of Cinematic social comment.
  
  well done. read
• 
  Hahaha, love it!
  A review of Islamaphobia
  by Ace1013 on 02/26/2007
  I love this short! It's excellent. This would have been a memorable experience if I ran into it on tv, unlike the vast majority of stuff out there. The kind of thing I would remember many years later, and try to seek out. Don't listen to the guy who tries to put this down, it seems like he just isn't comfortable with the message. I am not easily moved by suspense scenes anymore,... I love this short! It's excellent. This would have been a memorable experience if I ran into it on tv, unlike the vast majority of stuff out there. The kind of thing I would remember many years later, and try to seek out.
  Don't listen to the guy who tries to put this down, it seems like he just isn't comfortable with the message.
  
  I am not easily moved by suspense scenes anymore, and what I've seen lately of suspense (all pro stuff) has been pretty disappointing. However, watching this short in a little window on my lcd screen I found myself getting nervous with the protagonist.
  The reasoning of the protagonist, the faces and behaviour of the other people on the subway, the way the sound was mixed, the camera angles... Excellent stuff!
  
  I imagine it being quite tricky to mix in the terrorism warnings surrounding this character in his everyday without making them vulgar, banal or easy to miss. The short does an excellent job at this.
  
  The ending also came as a real surprise to me. Actually, I was expecting him to run into an iman on the street or something like that.
  
  I must confess I am also a fan of the point that is made, but that made me laugh a little extra when it ended, it is not what kept me interested along the way. While watching this I sat thinking and enjoying the perspective.
  
  Undeniably this is very close to how an "islamophob" is likely to see the world, and undeniably there are many people in the west today that see more "terrorists" in their city than there are at Guantanamo (even presuming that all the people there are guilty as suspected).
  
  A thought provoking and brilliant short, very well made.
  I will be showing this to my friends! read
• 
  A glimpse into the programming of our minds
  A review of Islamaphobia
  by ScoutII on 02/19/2007
  A nicely done piece with an "open your eyes" approach to getting us to examine our own media inspired fears that plague us at every turn. Those of us who after watching this feel that it really hits home will likely be hanging our heads in shame that it does. I think the message is clear and well put, with an ending that's more than appropriate in putting the world back into... A nicely done piece with an "open your eyes" approach to getting us to examine our own media inspired fears that plague us at every turn. Those of us who after watching this feel that it really hits home will likely be hanging our heads in shame that it does. I think the message is clear and well put, with an ending that's more than appropriate in putting the world back into some semblance of perspective. Well done! read
• 
  Relevant
  A review of Islamaphobia
  by jdzone2001 on 01/22/2007
  I enjoyed this film, It held my attention. I thought the voiceover was done well and matched the picture nicely. A very timely subject and the director created tension along with good pacing. I liked the twist in the end. Good camera work considering the locations. Good work. Looking forward to your future work.
• 
  Tension is not there
  A review of Islamaphobia
  by serge rocco on 11/29/2006
  Even if the statement against prejudices and generalization is pretty clearly expressed in "Islamaphobia", the film is not very efficient in my opinion. First the film is too long. We don't need to see the protagonist changing subway car twice to understand that he is stressed up. That is too redundant. Also, it's another one of these films that relies too much on narration... Even if the statement against prejudices and generalization is pretty clearly expressed in "Islamaphobia", the film is not very efficient in my opinion. First the film is too long. We don't need to see the protagonist changing subway car twice to understand that he is stressed up. That is too redundant. Also, it's another one of these films that relies too much on narration and not enough on visual and editing tricks. The tension could be heightened by quicker back and forth cuts between the protagonist and the people he perceives as being potential terrorists. For instance by showing more close-ups on eyes or hands reaching for pockets to pull off what we might think is a bomb, but instead, just an ipod, etc. Finally, the end statement where the director pulls out the statistics proving that more people die in accidents than in terrorist attacks is pretty naive anyway. It's like saying more people die of cancer than AIDS. That doesn't take away the fact that we all fear AIDS. Of course more people die in accidents than terrorist attacks, but we fear terrorism because it can happen anywhere, without warning when we least expect it. read
• 
  Great job
  A review of Islamaphobia
  by rybruce1 on 11/06/2006
  This film was acted well and directed well. The cinematography really made me feel like there was no way out. I have to say it was really good. Also the message at the end really drop the poit home. And to shot the hole thing in a day was amazing.
• 
  Islamaphobia
  A review of Islamaphobia
  by mattyp134 on 09/15/2006
  I really enjoyed this film. I found it very appropriate due to the current rising scare of terrorism. At first the camera movements kinda of bothered me (zooms and just over all kind of shaky camera), but it really worked for me towards the end of the train ride to show the build of fear and anxiety. I also liked the heart beat in the background. Great job!
• 
  WHY ARABIC TITLES?
  A review of Islamaphobia
  by chetgeyer on 07/28/2006
  Elegantly and resourcefully done. A strong agit-prop in favor of the rationalist/sceptical POV on the current global war on terror. I am a New Yorker. I am curious: in light of your avowal that the film was made prior to the London tube attacks, would you have made such a film today? There are just a few other queries I would like to raise. The film never definitively says... Elegantly and resourcefully done. A strong agit-prop in favor of the rationalist/sceptical POV on the current global war on terror.
  I am a New Yorker. I am curious: in light of your avowal that the film was made prior to the London tube attacks, would you have made such a film today?
  There are just a few other queries I would like to raise.
  The film never definitively says whether the men who give rise to suspicion actually ARE up to something or not. The main character never actually runs afoul of them, but he may have just gotten off too soon.... So that element of the agit-prop syllogism is actually never defined.
  Certainly, the suspicious-seeming men are depicted as quite ostentatiously Islamic, and even mutely confrontational, surly, forward, their glares, their smirks, etc. Since the style of the film is fairly consistent in its rush-hour, workaday, hand-held kinesis, there's no way to no whether this is their objective behavior, or something we are seeing merely skewed through the eyes of the main character.
  Why were the young couple and another woman on the first car alive to the prospect of threat (the couple sufficiently so to flee), but this element of collective apprehension seems to drop out, and isn't seemingly manifested at all by anyone on the car in which the Islamic man is luridly smiling and holding the big metal case? Again, perhaps at that point we are viewing things only through the main character's paranoia and the suggestion is that his awareness of other people's perception has been trumped by his own terror. But stylistically or visually there are not really any cues to determine this.
  Finally, might the stakes be higher or the issues more acute if there were a reason that today was the day for this irruption of irrationality into the calm of your lead character? We had Tony Blair at the top, admittedly, but that was atmospheric, it seems, rather than defining or event-delimiting.
  Nicely done. read
• 
  Review of ISLAMAPHOBIA
  A review of Islamaphobia
  by f chong rutherford on 06/25/2006
  Very strong production. The visuals underscore the growing fear and paranoia of the narrator--as does the actor's increasing agitation. If you've ever ridden a subway, there's at least one person a day who has that crazed look to him. The question the film seems to ask is, "Do you want to live in fear?" Life, especially city life, often feels like a series of death traps to... Very strong production. The visuals underscore the growing fear and paranoia of the narrator--as does the actor's increasing agitation. If you've ever ridden a subway, there's at least one person a day who has that crazed look to him. The question the film seems to ask is, "Do you want to live in fear?" Life, especially city life, often feels like a series of death traps to avoid. Cars, falling debris, construction, criminals, holes in the pavement, slipping and falling while a train is moving, so many ways to get snuffed. Is terrorism just another one of the death traps to guard against? Or, will being so guarded make your life misery? Would the man have been better off not living in fear? Was it letting his guard down that left the man open to the traffic accident? Or, was he so paranoid that he failed to see the real dangers around him? No clear answers on any of these--and that's the strength of the film. It's very well produced and directed (and written!). The last shot is brilliant on both a technical and pure audience level of enjoyment. read