MOOZ-LUM (Muslim)- The Great New
“Off the Radar-Screen” Movie
By Wayne A. Young
 Mooz-Lum (as in Muslim) is one of those films “conscious” African-Americans wish all of the “brothers and sisters” would see. However, it’s not preachy, just great storytelling (uses flashback superbly), has great acting (Diana Ross must be very proud of her son Evan Ross) and set in a very under represented environment (the American Muslim community). Besides Ross, Mooz-Lum has the star power of Danny Glover, Nia Long and Roger Guenveur Smith.
Set in urban America (the movie includes as many Whites as the recent Oscar awards show included Blacks), Tariq (Evan Ross) learns to reconcile having had parents raise him in a strict Muslim home and living in a majority Christian country. Early in the 1 hour and 39 minute film, we learn that his mother (Nia Long) is a devout follower of Islam, but not a Saudi women.
 She’s from the US of A and has no problem telling her husband (Roger Guenveur Smith) she cannot take it anymore: She wants a divorce. And the drama unfolds to a crescendo on September 11 when too many Americans blame all Muslims for the planes that became bombs and destroy the World Trade Towers.
While the film has plenty of “good” and “bad” people, director Qasim Baisr doesn’t pit one group as evil and the other as bad. “It didn't have gratuitous sex and killing which many of our people tend to like seeing on film, as well as men in drag playing fat women,” added Ron King of Washington, D.C. Instead, Baisr focuses on telling a story and on intolerance coming in many forms, which should make everyone comfortable at having this film uplift and entertain them.
Photos: Top) Nia Long Bottom) Evan Ross in center. |
Sweden is not in Africa and the Nordic country does not have a large Black population, but its new exhibitions at its Washington embassy (called House of Sweden) are a must see for those who want to explore how creative designs affect our quality of life. The exhibits include household designs by 17 Swedish designers who happen to be female, an extraordinary collection of household designs for children, a photography exhibit, and a “white space” for parents and children to bond. The exhibition also includes a play area for small children.
It was just 11 years ago that JET magazine reported that President Clinton displayed the bust of Martin Luther King in the White House, marking the first time that the White House displayed an image of a Black in a public space.