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The Muslim

Name: The Muslim
Director: Vladimir Khotinenko
Released: 1995
Duration: 110 min

Representation Score

7.1/10

Good

1995

Director

Vladimir Khotinenko

Runtime

110 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

The film serves as a gritty social critique, using religious conversion to disrupt the expected homogeneity of a rural Russian setting. It effectively uses the protagonist's faith to challenge national identity and systemic corruption. While the narrative excels at exploring the way different parts of someone's identity overlap and the friction between the individual and a decaying society, it remains limited in its depiction of gender and LGBTQ+ identities. Female characters often function as clichés of social erosion rather than autonomous agents.

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Category Breakdown

Does The Muslim have LGBTQ+ representation?

Limited

The film does not include explicit representation of LGBTQ+ characters or identities that go beyond the assumption that everyone is straight or cisgender. The narrative focuses on religious conversion and strained family relationships.

How does The Muslim portray gender?

Fair

Female characters are primarily defined by their relationships to the protagonist or the village's decline. The portrayal of the former fiancée as having 'low morals' reflects a critique of eroded femininity.

How racially and ethnically diverse is The Muslim?

Good

The story introduces cultural pluralism by centering a Muslim identity within a predominantly Russian village. This disrupts national identity norms and forces the community to confront 'the other.'

How does The Muslim represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The film offers a strong critique of predatory capitalism and oppressive social hierarchies. It explores the tension between individual spiritual autonomy and the corruption of traditional communal structures.

Does The Muslim include disability representation?

Fair

There is no explicit depiction of physical or neurodivergent disabilities. However, the protagonist's war trauma serves as a central, albeit invisible, psychological struggle.

Present on Screen

Challenges the national homogeneity by centering a Muslim identity in a Russian village.
Provides a nuanced critique of predatory capitalism and social disintegration.
Explores complex themes of individual spiritual autonomy against oppressive communal norms.

Limited or Absent

Lacks explicit representation of LGBTQ+ characters or themes.
Female characters are often defined by their relationship to men or social decay.
Does not provide narrative ability to act to characters with visible or neurodivergent disabilities.

Official Synopsis

A Russian soldier who spent ten years in captivity in Afghanistan, returns to his home village and shocks all its inhabitants because of his conversion to Islam. During his absence, his father hanged himself, his brother served a prison term and his former fiancée has become a woman of very low morals. The village is the scene of endless drinking while the local boss is selling off the land for dollars to new-rich Russians. Our hero turns out as the only sober and hard-working member of the community. However, his attachment to his new faith soon provokes the hatred and rejection of everyone else, including his own family.

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