The Gate: Dawn of the Baha'i Faith

Going to show this to my youth group next gathering!

The Gate follows the history of the Bab, who is equivalent to John the Baptist among the believers of the Baha'i Faith. The documentary begins with setting the foundation of history, giving a glimpse into the history of Iran and the time where the Bab faced both great challenges and victories in declaring His mission.

The production quality of the documentary is great, and pacing is good. The documentary places great emphasis on the overarching theme of delivering the Message of Baha'u'llah and the Bab, whom Baha'is consider as Prophets from God, and the two entities whose Teachings are essential for this age.

This film is a very well-made and historically accurate retelling of a bit of the life of the Bab and the beginning of the Baha'i Faith. Recommended for those interested in the subjects of religion, the Baha'i Faith, Persian studies, or what historically happened when a young man with a claim to be a Messenger from God appears in 1800s Iran.

Firstly, I enjoyed watching this film. It's a good introduction to the standard Baha'i history through the medium of film, and anyone who wants a quick entrance into that history should enjoy it - typically Baha'is, people enquiring about the Baha'i Faith, or those learning about it for other reasons, such as religious studies. Films bring things to life in an enjoyable way. If you're going to watch it in the expectation it will be a major film with Charlton Heston playing then of course you'll only be disappointed, but if you go into its viewing to enjoy seeing something in film about the Baha'i history, you will enjoy it and it will have been time well spent. In particular its format mixes re-enactment with narrative conversation/expression, but it's not one that provides debates and maybes, which I would myself have enjoyed seeing, it presents a pre-packaged story, so-to-speak; but every production has its style. It's not though a substitute for a deeper reading of the history from a wide range of accounts, which should always be carried out, and it does contain some 'wonders' that likely never happened, but they are only a minor element. Note that contrary to various comments, it is an individual initiative, not a production etc of the House of Justice, who in my experience provide in their productions a very high-quality experience combined with (in distinction from this) a free download.

I watched this movie with my bahai friends and we were very disappointed because the story of Bab was narrated with a very poor scenario.