Al-massir

This film is an entertaining and thrilling mix of melodrama, music, history, grief and joy, showing the best and worst sides of human nature.

The story is set in medieval Moorish Spain, about the conflict between Averroes; a historical humanistic Muslim philosopher; and a group of reactionary fundamentalists. It is very well acted and the characters are sympathetic as well as credible. Often forgotten is that many of the Islamic societies of the Early Middle Ages (particularly in Spain) were ahead of Europe in science, mathematics, medicine, religious tolerance and many intellectual pursuits. But, there were periodic and sometimes serious conflicts with those who resented these trends.

This is not just an historical epic. The Egyptian director, a very courageous man named Youssef Chanine, deliberately molded the script to show how fanaticism undermines not only a society's intellect, but destroys it's soul. Particularly disturbing, but highly relevant to our times, is showing the subtle manner in which young men are recruited into these movements and about how empty and dishonest they turn out to be.

Although the population of medieval Andalusia was 10-15% Jewish and Averroes had extensive contact with both Jewish and Christian intellectuals, there isn't a Jew in sight and the only Christians are depicted as evil, fanatical, external enemies who enter into a secret pact with the fundamentalist cult. While this is not entirely accurate and a gross simplification of the actual situation at the time, I don't fault Mr. Chanine. He has endured extreme legal harassment in the Egyptian courts over this and another film as well as extensive death threats against himself and his family. Merely exploring the themes portrayed in this movie has put his head on the chopping block, and any sympathetic depiction of Jews or Christians would have resulted in the banning of the film and possibly his head rolling into the basket. He deliberately crafted this film to educate his own society about the debasement and moral corruption wrought by cultism and violence, and, no doubt, wanted to make sure the message got out.

A bold, and gently provocative film by a very brave man.

Mr. Chahine is masterful and downright crafty in pushing forward his message for cosmopolitan rationality vs. parochial fanaticism: Starting from a telegraphed overview of historical events, ideological currents and characters from the two-century period (XI-XII) in Andalusia that saw a wave of North-African fundamentalist mercenary Berbers wrestle power away from the weakened remnants of the enlightened Umayyad dynasty, he made a deceivingly simple parable using old-time Hollywood formats and entertainment values à la `Thief of Baghdad.' Chahine is thus successfully addressing matters of dense philosophical and political import under the guise of an almost infantile entertainment. The plot, furthermore, echoes `Fahrenheit 451' and its overall ideological stance is reminiscent of ‘A Man for All Seasons.' On the other hand, seeing its `musical' values as a bow to Hollywood is merely scratching at the surface, since it must be kept in mind that poetry in song – the obsessive discipline of enlightened Islam – was the most efficient vehicle for the birth and expansion of all values appropriated by Christian Western (read, European) civilization. Hence, the formal solution signifies much more than the surface. On the other hand, Chahine ties the past quite neatly -- through his storytelling and filmmaking craft -- with current world events and thought convolutions. For example, the stabbing of the bard character in Destiny couldn't be less than a painful fictionalization of the fundamentalist attack on the contemporary Egyptian novelist Mafouz. El Massir is an important piece of work, and I think everyone who is at all concerned or curious about the nature of the global forces at work today should take a long and detained look at it. This film carries a hefty punch and – what's best -- you can barely feel it, as the masterful handling of the narrative, in terms of nothing but an entertaining parable, lets the dense message flow without any pretensions of `avant-garde' stylist truculence. M

Destiny (1997) is an Egyptian film co-written and directed by Youssef Chahine. It stars Nour El-Sherif as Averroes, a famous Muslim philosopher in the 12th Century.

The movie has one of the grimmest beginnings I've ever seen. It never gets quite that grim again, but the first few minutes are hard to sit through.

After that, the story is interesting, if hard to understand. The philosopher Averroes was a historical figure. He sometimes lived in North Africa, and sometimes in Andalusia. (Nour El-Sherif is an excellent actor, and he makes us believe in Averroes as a real human being, and not just as a philosopher on a pedestal.)

Averroes translated the works of Aristotle into Arabic, and then he wrote commentaries about them. It's possible that these works would have been lost if Averroes had not undertaken this immense intellectual task.

The basic plot of the story circles around the interaction of Averroes with the Caliph, and the Caliph's brother and sons. I have to admit that I got the sense of who was doing what to whom, but I couldn't always understand the details.

This movie is worth seeing because it's colorful, well-acted, and shows us events about which many of us know very little. It has a solid IMDb rating of 7.3, and I recommend it. It will work better on the large screen.

We were able to see it at Rochester's wonderful Dryden Theatre where it was shown--free--as part of a series entitled Salam. The series is being presented to commemorate the lives of the victims of the atrocities at the Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre in New Zealand, and in solidarity with Muslim people.

The series was organized by the Eastman Museum in partnership with the Islamic Center of Rochester. I commend both institutions for using artistic works to combat and decry hatred.

The movie is simply great. So beautiful, so entertaining, so well-made. As beautiful as I had expected from yousef shaheen, the director, as a leader of the modern Egyptian movie making. The ideal declared by the film is a throbbing hot one. Liberal thought and freedom from all pre-made and superimposed thought is a subject that I never saw treated in such an open manner, especially in a conservative society like the Egyptian one. The Camera playing, the lighting modules, the music, the positioning of the right song in the right situation are all points that count on the director's side. The scene where the Khaleefa says: "I'm the Andalus" with him being zoomed out to appear dotted in the centre of the screen, is one scene that I don't think will forget. The actors choice was also very successful. If you have never seen an Egyptian film before, this is a good one to start with.

A film which will probably find many emphatic spectators due to its many facettes: * You might like historic films - this one shows you live of Andalusia in the 12th century with rich costumes and great islamic buildings; * you might prefer deep content - this film offers insight in the philosophy of the great muslem thinker Averroes (Ibn-Rushed) and the question why people get seducted by sects; * you might be interested in action, love and happy-end - this film offers as a story the conspiracy against the caliph, and happily ends with two couples that found each other (though very sensitively shown, compared to occidental films); * you might generally be interested how other cultures do films - this is a great example of oriental (Egyptian) cinema, which is close enough to be understood be occidental people; * you might like to follow personal development of the characters shown in the film - this one gives you insight in the development of the caliph's two sons: from "take all easy" to "use your own head to think". *** This film can be highly recommended !!! ***