Being only one of two commercial operators countrywide and boasting an array of nine hearses and eleven full-time staff, Taslim Funerals takes on the mammoth job of catering for Islam’s dead.
With up close and personal access to the moving stories of a variety of funerals, this film reveals a religion which is just as much a comforting code for life as it is a form of worship, but where the ‘rules’ on how you bury your dead are paramount.
We meet Terry, a non-Muslim, who honours his Muslim dad’s final wish to be buried as Allah intended. We see the different roles men and women play, when Esah lays her husband to rest, and the comforting philosophy Islam provides for both Ashik faced with burying his premature baby, and Alusine in saying farewell to his twin brother. The hardest realities of necessary red tape are most vividly brought into focus when a husband has to wait several months before he is finally able to bury his murdered wife.
A Century North production for Channel 4
1 x 50 minutes
NarratorAndrew LincolnAssistant ProducerLokesh KaushalExecutive ProducerBrian HillEditorMartin John HarrisProduced & Directed & Filmed byHeenan BhattiWinnerPrix Europa, Best Multicultural TV Programme 2008
WinnerRTS North, Best Factual Programme 2008
"A gentle humour permeates this fine film throughout"The Independent
"Touching and eye-opening"Metro
"Other documentaries have set out to hit us over the head with the message of how heterogeneous Islam can be. This one allowed us to see it for ourselves."Daily Telegraph