SNOW IN PARADISE may have been one of the smallest films at last year’s London Film Festival but it was by no means the least important. Based on a true story, this low-budget independent British film looks at a petty criminal, Dave, who completely turns his life around when he finds Islam.
Martin Askew, the man whose life inspired the film and the co-writer and actor on the film itself, is unreserved when discussing his criminal past and says that adapting his life into this film has been ‘a very cathartic experience’. He told me that the process of making SNOW IN PARADISE was ‘one of the most wonderful experiences of my life’. And it was obvious, when I spoke with others involved in the film, how important it was to all of them.
This importance shines through as a viewer too. SNOW IN PARADISE is an incredibly powerful story, rooted in the possibility of finding a way out of darkness and bad choices through the comforting welcome of a religious community and new belief system. This positive take on religion is something seriously lacking nowadays, in a time when the majority of worldwide coverage of religion seems to focus solely on negativity, and the importance of conveying this message was not lost on Askew. ‘Having a production office in the annex of a mosque was extra special for me,’ he said. ‘I felt cultural bridges were being built.’
Askew remains hopeful that people will ‘feel the spirituality of the piece’ and take something positive away from the film once they’ve seen it. ‘Terrorists and radicals are not even a fraction of the world’s Muslim population,’ he says. ‘Hopefully SNOW [IN PARADISE] will shine a light for audiences who are seeking some other narrative of truth. Divisions are created not by faith but by people.’
Though the film – which marks the directorial debut of film editor Andrew Hulme – has been five years in the making, it seems just as important now than it was back when the team first started, perhaps even more so. After all, Muslims were being asked to apologise for the Charlie Hebdo attacks as though they had somehow caused it themselves, and when AMERICAN SNIPER was released, it seemed to spark yet more hatred of the Islamic community on social media.
‘The negative narratives inflicted on us by the media about Muslim radicalization and terrorism are drowning our senses of reality,’ Askew says. ‘The beauty of faith seems to get washed aside in this sewage of despair.’
Overall, SNOW IN PARADISE is not a film that gets bogged down in specifics; the appeal is universal. This is a story about somebody on a pre-determined path who chooses to change direction – and, as Askew explains, ‘it could have been any faith that Dave embraced’.
We can only hope that more filmmakers remember the positive impact religion – and faith – can have on a person and start to reflect that in future projects.
SNOW IN PARADISE is released in the UK on 13th February. Read our review here.
