Strictly speaking, “The Prophet” isn’t a sacred text. But Kahlil Gibran’s 1923 collection of 26 prose poems is widely considered one of the most influential works of the 20th century, inspiring everything from song lyrics, speeches and plays to, now, an animated feature film produced by Salma Hayek.
The Mexican-born actress — who is, like Gibran, of Lebanese descent — shepherded this adaptation by entrusting it to principal director Roger Allers (“The Lion King”) and an international group of nine other animators who translated eight of Gibran’s most famous poems into short sequences.
Instead of Gibran’s original premise — a wise teacher sermonizing on his return to his home country — Allers’s central story turns main character Mustafa (voiced by Liam Neeson) into a political prisoner, under house arrest in the fictional city of Orphalese. He begins to share his wise tales with his beautiful housekeeper Kamila (Hayek) and her precocious but selectively mute daughter, Almitra. Granted sudden amnesty under the condition of immediate deportation, Mustafa is on his way to the Orphalese port when he’s stopped again and again by characters seeking a final blessing or parable.
Allers, who produced the framing story, uses a Disney-like animation style that is familiar and mainstream. Yet the vignettes prove more memorable. In “On Marriage,” French comic book artist Joann Sfar creates a sultry tango in which lovers dance seductively in the moonlight, reminding viewers that marriage requires intimacy with a sliver of mystery. Irish director Tomm Moore (“Song of the Sea” and “The Secret of Kells”) creates a Klimt-like depiction of passion in “On Love,” centered on the image of an embracing couple surrounded by the golden rays of the sun.
