'Eyelashes' Short Movie Review: A Profoundly Sad Exploration Of The Line Between Religion & Dreams

Eyelashes almost feels like a spiritual sequel or spin-off to the recently released Prime Video comedy-drama, led by Riz Ahmed, titled Bait. Directed by Omar Elhanbouly, the 15-minute-long short film follows Mohammad through London as he performs namaz and then runs all the way to his interview. Once he gets there, he gets judgmental looks from the receptionist, and things get particularly awkward when he finally sits down with David, the recruiter, for a conversation about whether or not he’s perfect for the job (the details of which are barely hinted at). 

As Mohammad and David converse, it becomes clear that Mohammad’s candidature depends on one thing and one thing only: his willingness to sacrifice everything associated with his faith. In case you haven’t watched Bait, it’s a 6-part television series where a budding actor named Shah Latif auditions for the role of James Bond. Naturally, he is subjected to all kinds of harassment in real life and on the internet, largely because he is Muslim and visibly Brown. Hence, Shah finds himself at a crossroads, where he can either accept who he is, thereby irking his critics and reducing his chances of being the next Bond, or rejecting everything that makes him unique and hope it improves his shot at being 007. I guess you can see how they echo each other’s themes. Much like Bait, it’s really difficult for me to talk about Eyelashes, because both stories are coming from the lived experiences of their respective creators; and said lived experiences are quite different from my own. And I am lowkey afraid that critiquing the depiction of certain things about Islam that Omar and Riz highlight can put me into murky waters, largely because I haven’t faced the prejudice or alienation that they have, both from people inside and outside their community, in order to understand where the aforementioned sentiments stem from. What I can talk about is the industry’s attitude towards people based on their religious or cultural backgrounds. 

Without getting into any specifics, I have seen writers, directors, producers accommodate an actor’s personal beliefs if they hail from a certain religion or culture which has spent millions (probably billions) of dollars spreading propaganda for themselves. As in they have convinced the world that if their religious or cultural customs aren’t followed on set or not depicted on the screen with utmost reverence, then the consequences are going to be grave. And those same people have propagated negative stereotypes against other religious communities, thereby prompting studios and artists to not only exploit them, but also put them in situations that actively demean their culture and religion. If you think that such practices are a recent development, you have a very shallow idea of the entertainment industry, or just society in general.

In Eyelashes, if you look at the set design of David’s office and listen to one of the first things that David says to Mohammad, you’ll find some subtle commentary on which religions have been normalized, and which have been demonized. Without going into specifics, it’s okay to give certain religious symbols as gifts, even to people who don’t belong to your community, and apparently, it’s okay for the receiver of such gifts to accept them. In fact, if you don’t welcome such gestures, you will be labeled discriminatory and turned into the subject of an extensive smear campaign. However, certain religious symbols or items have been deemed unworthy of public display. Heck, if you buy such artefacts or books just because you are interested in them, you’ll be seen as a charlatan or a sympathizer of unsavory political ideologies. Oh yes, the “we don’t like to do politics” crowd gets really vocal when you don’t adhere to the customs and norms that have been drilled into the general public’s mind, while staying silent on the genocides and wars that are going on as you read this sentence, just because the aggressors belong to a community that they have been taught to love. Of course, these practices spill into professional fields as well, which, when coupled with inflation and capitalism, creates problems that our forefathers could have never anticipated. And seeing how things are deteriorating, I doubt if we are going to recover from the current phase of religious extremism.

The visual storytelling in Eyelashes is, for the lack of a better word, immersive. The work done by Omar, composer Abdelrahman Eltayeb, editor Samir T. Radwan, and cinematographers Ziad Abdelbasit and Caleb Seed put you in Mohammad’s shoes within a matter of seconds. Everything from his costume to the time it takes for him to reach the venue for his interview tells you everything you need to know about Mohammad; and they immediately make you root for him. I like the fact that the film keeps the nature of his previous job and his current job really ambiguous, and it allows you fill in the blanks based on how much Mohammad is crying (or not crying). If you have the slightest hint of empathy in your soul, that ending is going to break your heart and probably make you wonder why we, as a species, have divided ourselves into all these arbitrary sects and communities. 

If we have divided ourselves into religious communities, why can’t we accommodate one another so that nobody feels inconvenienced and everyone gets to live peacefully. Given how polarized we have become, I know that these are concepts that must be hard for many to wrap their heads around. However, the “beautiful” thing about discrimination is that, one day or another, it’s gonna reach your doorstep and, hopefully, you will be treated exactly how you have treated others. Anyway, this is a long-winded way of saying that you should watch Eyelashes as soon as possible. Watch Bait as well. In addition to all that, I hope that we are able to create spaces for more stories like these because these stories can educate us and humanize us. We humans are merely a blip in the cosmos and if we can’t learn to be kind to each other in this short time that we have, then what’s even the point.