Not too far into Breaking Fast I wondered if the film was created and funded by some Gays For Mohammed lobby group I somehow hadn't heard about. The narrative certainly seems determined to put a positive spin on the Muslim faith and on Muslim attitudes to gays, despite all the real world evidence that the Muslim religion is deeply - indeed, murderously - homophobic, and not much interested in changing. Nevertheless, we're treated to a story about the unfeasibly Pollyanna-ish Mo, his impossibly down-with-it gay-friendly family, and his ludicrously chaste budding romance with the conveniently Muslim-savvy Kal through the holy days of Ramadan. And since Mo's not allowed any impure thoughts through Ramadan the romance must be more chaste than a Disney musical. Indeed, Mo is a musicals enthusiast - I'm guessing with tastes than run more Rodgers and Hammerstein than Sondheim. (The Sound of Music is mentioned A LOT). As with much about Breaking Fast, this feels like a clumsy construct to make Muslim Mo as sweet and wholesome and non-confronting as possible. To be honest, the effort to make Mo likeable mostly backfire, and the character quickly becomes a sanctimonious, insensitive prig, and deeply annoying with it. And Kal comes off as a complete doormat for putting up with him. There's one commendably feisty scene towards the end in which some of the characters actually confront Mo with the realities of Muslim homophobia, but most of this just bounces off Mo. Seconds later he's serenading Kal in a gay bar with a particularly awful rendition of Climb Ev'ry Mountain. Any politically aware homo who doesn't regurgitate his popcorn at this point is beyond help. Who knows, maybe there will be those (gay, straight or whatever) who will watch Breaking Fast and go away thinking "Hey, those Muslims are not so bad, after all". In which case I suppose Breaking Fast will have done its job. But we live in a world where people genuinely believe vaccines cause autism and Donald Trump is the greatest president ever, so what can you do?
Review of Breaking Fast
