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REVIEW: The Journey

First off, our reviews don't equate to endorsement.

"Platforming" is a whole other discussion obviously, but we didn't feel the need to avoid platforming this movie.

Obviously this movie can be seen as "propaganda." It is designed to promote Saudi/Muslim/Arab culture and heritage. And there's nothing wrong with that. Whether it's Japan, China, Russia, Iran, France or wherever, promoting their heritage is just fine.

As long the film isn't being used to attack another culture, religion, or nation.

I guess on a scale of religious movies, how heavy-handed are we talking here? Is this more Prince of Egypt (which it sounds like not), somewhere in the middle like Arjun: The Warrior Prince, or beat-you-over-the-head a la Happy Science?

It might be helpful if the review were clearer about what kind of organization MiSK is, and its connection to MBS and the Saudi government. I had to look that up myself after reading this. That information should really be in the first paragraph.

I have difficultly believing that ANN would be so charitable towards a right wing European government sponsored propaganda project - say from Hungary or Poland - that promotes its extreme political and social views under the guise of "promoting culture and heritage". Or if ANN was, it is really difficult to explain why it should be. The absolute first thing any reviewer on ANN would mention about a Hungarian "anime" would be that regime's attitudes towards racial and religious minorities and LGBT people, but here we have a project from Saudi Arabia and not a peep.

Manga Productions is a subsidiary of the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Foundation, also known as MiSK, and named for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. The company aims to create animation, comic, and video game projects to "promote Saudi ideas and messages internationally." MiSK signed a memorandum with Japan's Digital Hollywood University in October 2017 to train Saudi designers and programmers in creating animation and games. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman established MiSK in 2011.

In February 2021, the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence assessed that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist who relocated to the United States and wrote for The Washington Post newspaper before being killed in 2018. The Saudi Arabian government "completely reject[ed]" the U.S. assessment. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also been criticized for pursuing a war in Yemen that caused a humanitarian disaster and for cracking down on dissenting voices. He has alternately been praised for ending a ban on women drivers in 2018.

This is in all of our news article coverage about the movie and the productions coming from MiSK.

http://4NN.cx/.189262

Quote:

Manga Productions is a subsidiary of the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Foundation, also known as MiSK, and named for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. The company aims to create animation, comic, and video game projects to "promote Saudi ideas and messages internationally." MiSK signed a memorandum with Japan's Digital Hollywood University in October 2017 to train Saudi designers and programmers in creating animation and games. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman established MiSK in 2011. In February 2021, the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence assessed that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist who relocated to the United States and wrote for The Washington Post newspaper before being killed in 2018. The Saudi Arabian government "completely reject[ed]" the U.S. assessment. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also been criticized for pursuing a war in Yemen that caused a humanitarian disaster and for cracking down on dissenting voices. He has alternately been praised for ending a ban on women drivers in 2018.

We actually have had people on the other side of the comments here get mad that we bother to include this in our news coverage.

I specifically wanted Rebecca to review this film due to her extensive historical knowledge on topics and I respect her opinion on the film itself. I believe her when she says certain view points aren't present in a film when most of us would expect it due to the funding behind it. There will be an interview up on Monday with the animation manager where I asked her about these concerns regarding politics associated with Saudi Arabia.

Second, it is amazing to make the claim "the film isn't being used to attack another culture, religion or nation" when the bad guys are explicitly Christian.

Saudi Arabia [...] was not always Muslim

Yes, these events did happen:

Instead, this movie goes for the usual propaganda of how they are always the peace-loving good guys until the crusaders came and persecuted them, when in many cases said "crusaders" actually were just trying to recover land that was taken by expansionist imperialists in the first place

More in the middle. There's explicit mention of God and stories from Abrahamic myth, but it's presenting itself as more of an underdog story; an analogy might be as if it were a film about the reason why Chanuka is celebrated. (Some religious elements, based on a historic event.)

Thanks! I’ll probably end up checking this out because I actually really enjoy seeing culturally different stories, particularly of the quasi-mythic/religious variety, but I think I want to wait til ANN’s eventual interview first.

Honestly, that was my favorite thing about it - I loved seeing the variations on the stories I grew up with.

I also really do believe that everyone deserves to see themselves in the media they consume, whether that means someone who looks like them, who has the same cultural background as them, or the same neurological differences as them. The first time I read a book with a Jewish heroine that wasn't a Holocaust story it meant the world to me, and I want that for everyone.

The movie doesn't attack Christians or Christianity in any way other than making the invader a Christian.

You've also got your timeline messed up,

-t

The absolute first thing any reviewer on ANN would mention about a Hungarian "anime" would be that regime's attitudes towards racial and religious minorities and LGBT people