The Moors were Arab and African Muslims from Northern Africa who liberated the people of the book in Spain.

Review by Parker Jesse Chase:

The Moors in Spain blends animation, narration, and historical dramatization to retell a story often
overlooked in Western classrooms. This is the story about the arrival of Arab and African Muslims in
Spain and their long-lasting impact on Europe. Based on the book The Moors in Spain: When Arab and
Africans Led the World, the film reframes the Moors not as conquerors, but as liberators. A group of
people who sought to bring education, technology, and coexistence to a region divided by ignorance and
oppression.

The film opens in Mecca, 613 AD, “the age of ignorance,” as the narrator calls it. Through a mix of
stylized animation and voiceover, we’re shown a harsh world where poverty rules and women are treated
as less than human. The violence is softened by animation, yet it’s still deeply felt. The story then moves
across regions from Tangiers to Guadalette, from Cordoba to Toledo each stop marking a key moment in
the Moors’ mission to spread their faith and values.

At its core, the film is about the clash between religion, power, and principle. “Fear law, fear law, fear law,”
echoes through one of its most memorable sequences, showing how religion, politics, and control
intertwine. The filmmakers don’t shy away from depicting war and bloodshed. The battles between
Muslims, Jews, and Christians are brutal, leaving viewers questioning what liberation really means when
freedom must be fought for.

While the film clearly wants to honor the Moors as bringers of progress. A builder of cities, inventors of
technologies, or even defenders of knowledge. Its visual storytelling often leans into the duality of
contradiction. The closing narration praises their legacy of coexistence, yet the animation doubles down
on scenes of chaos and rebellion. We see men cheering death, not dialogue. We see control replacing
peace. It’s a tension that makes the film interesting, but also confusing in tone.

At times, the piece plays like an educational documentary and something that could be shown in a
classroom. At other times, it feels more like a piece of propaganda, simplifying complex histories into a
moral struggle between “white and brown,” “oppressed and oppressor.” The message is clear, but the
nuance gets lost in the noise.

Still, The Moors in Spain deserves credit for tackling a subject rarely given space on screen. It reminds us
history is not written by the victors, it’s rewritten by those who dare to challenge the narrative. Even with
its uneven tone and heavy-handed symbolism, the film sparks important questions about faith, power, and what it really means to be free.

A visually bold, morally complex retelling of Moorish history that swings between education and agitation.

Its heart is in the right place, but its message sometimes gets buried under the weight of its own passion.