User reviews

I went today on a film festival in Izola, Slovenia and this was the first movie I saw. I'm in a youth jury.

I have to say that this is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Everything is going on in a desert and you completely feel like your a part of this story. Movie photography is amazing. There are four stories that all tell one message. Maybe it's a little hard to follow all the stories, but in the end everything makes sense. I loved the message, but I can't tell you what it is, I want you to see the movie.

The music was also amazing. Arabic music makes you feel like your there, in the movie, but sometimes it's a little bit to loud...you can't hear the desert. But maybe that's what the director wanted. I recommend it to everyone!

Bab'Aziz: Filmed in 2005 by Tunisian screenwriter and director Nacer Khemir.

Bab'aziz, the last film of the 'Desert Trilogy', is one of the most precious works of the art of cinema with its fairy-tale-like narration.

I saw this dazzling work of art at the Palm Springs film festival January 10 and it got my vote for best film of the week. It was as beautiful as it was touching and funny. Maryam Hamid gave a flawless performance as the charming and sweet Ishtar. Parviz Shaminkhou was superb as her determined and caring dervish grandfather. Blind but not sightless, he finds his way across the constantly changing terrain guided only by his heart, in search of that place he is meant to be. The hypnotizing music of Armand Amar was the perfect accompaniment to the stunning Tunisian landscape where each scene was more magnificent than the next; a dream within a dream. Do not miss this film.

This tantalizing story concentrates on - and does it from the very different perspectives - being on the way, searching for the deepest meaning, passionately yearning to reach the goal which is at the same time universal and in every case slightly different: love, truth, spirituality - however You call it. And like so often in our lives we end up finding that the search itself has been this what we actually have been looking for. Don't let the surroundings confuse You, however magnificent they are. Those who take this movie as a kind of version of 1000 and one night completely miss the point; also because the old dervish mystical tradition is far from - and quite often even in conflict with - the convictions which are shared in the mainstream Arabian culture. For me it was a universal story about deepest passions which have been moving and still move the souls of humanity. I saw this movie in last November, but it's still haunting me

"Bab'Aziz: The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul" is a magical retelling of a Sufi mysticism; the mystical side of Islam, the time-honored concept of oneness with God, the peace and harmony with the universe. Bab'Aziz (Parviz Shahinkhou)is a very old blind dervish who hit the desert for a dervish reunion that is held once in every thirty years. A sort of a Sufi congregation where dancing ,singing, reciting poetry are all performed in a dhikr-like meditation and ecstasy to realize a sense of oneness with God, to reach the Creator. Ostensibly, his only accompanier is his high-spirited but patient granddaughter Ishtar(Maryam Hamid) who enjoys the mystic tales of the dervishes which somehow intersect with the tales of those who are on the desert for the same reunion.Bab'Aziz tells the story of a titular prince who goes missing one day.The fastidious prince who enjoys himself with the worldly-deeds follow a little gazelle that happens to be near his palatial tent. After he is gone missing, his loyal subjects look for him only to find him to be enraptured by apparently his own reflection in the pool but his loyal server knows that there is more to it than meets the eye. En route to the congregation they meet others whose stories are mystically interwoven with the tale of the old dervish. A young man who is on the desert to avenge a brother who was killed by a red-haired dervish(Hossein Panahi)whose only concern is to 'sweep with his soul, before his beloved's door', Osman(Mohamed Graïaa) who years for the beautiful Zahra who mystically meets in a palatial well, Zaid(Nessim Khaloul)who looks for the enchanting woman (Golshifteh Farahani) who is bewitched by his poems at a poetry contest but fled away from him to find her long-lost dervish father...

Dedicated to the father of the director Nacer Khemir, the movie is a subtle on-portrayal of Muslims in a hostile,gradually increasing Islamophobic world. In an interview in Al-Ahram Weekly,Nacer Khemir says "Suppose you were walking with your father on the street and he fell and got mud on his face. What do you do then? You help him up and wipe the mud off his face." The mud--the wrongly attained image of Islam due to those guys who take wows of violence with their guns is trying to be clarified by a man who could say "When I became an orphan I understood that I was at the center of a whirlpool, that I would never know comfort. I felt it was necessary to start expressing that..."

Teemed with vivid desert imagery, thought-provoking and enchanting remarks by self-less dervishes,Bab'Aziz is definitely not a movie for a layman. If you don't like a journey which will take you literally nowhere but mystically everywhere the movie won't be making much sense for you. If you have never read anything about sufi poets like Rumi let alone the possibility that you may never heard of him, then this movie won't be an easy one for you to relate to, because Sufism,in a way, is ripped away from rationality. I mean what would you say to a granddaughter who says "we've lost the way" on the desert. Bab'aziz says "He who has faith will never get lost, my little angel.He who is at peace won't lose his way." That's I mean about the "rationality" in Sufism.So if you really want to watch this movie get ready for the mystical journey that will become obscure if you lose your faith,concentration and attention!

I came across this wonderful movie in a DVD shop in Basel and was attracted by the well designed DVD cover. I ordered the DVD from net and the Movie turned out one of the best movies I have ever seen where the visible indicates towards the even bigger invisible world.. and the outer images turn you joyfully inward. Sufism is a hidden mystic tradition and its secrets are well hidden. But in this movie if you are alert will be introduced to some of most beautiful dances and recitals. The music is uplifting and the photography simply beautiful.I congratulate the director of the movie for his courage and sense of beauty. In addition the movie is full of paraables and portrayal of desert which is ever so associated with Sufis. The temple in the sand and the Zikhr cereomony left me asking for more..

As others have said, this movie can qualify as a "best movie of my life". The person that commented about the movie not focusing exclusively on the pure/ascetic aspects of Sufi has a valid point, but it is on purpose that this is the case.

I strongly recommend watching the other two movies of the "dessert trilogy" where the very same path towards illumination, is seen from the outside (first movie), then from the point of view of the one drawn into joining in (second movie) and with Bab'aziz comes the end of the cycle.

Behind the movie and the trilogy itself, the Director (Nacer Khemir) is of course the conduit that guides to the viewers the source of the light. To dedicate all your artistic career to a single trilogy over so many years, puts Mr. Khemir in the line of the Muslim craftsmen that adorned so beautifully the buildings we see throughout the movies... He succeeded in turning a medium (cinematography) mostly used by anti-traditional messages in a veritable page of a scripture. The movie is able to lead people to "search more" and provides them a valid direction as well.

Some of Nacer's interviews one can find on the net are worth watching too...

For anyone who is unaware of the culture,the Dervish is an integral part of the Sufi branch of Islam (the ones who embrace mysticism). This is a loving meditation on a grandfather & granddaughter who embark on a spiritual odyssey to a gathering of Dervishes that only takes place every 30 years. Along the way,the pair encounters various persons in the desert that tell their stories (which,like Sufi stories,interweave within one another). This is a lovingly written, directed,filmed (mostly in the barren desert areas of Iran,giving the film a dreamy & surreal look at times)allegory of spirituality. This is a film that deserves to be taken at it's own terms (the pacing is s-l-o-w, but don't let that deter you). The music score is fantastic,with lots of traditional Sufi music (it might help to listen to a bit of it---try anything by the late,great Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn for some background). By all means,get yourself attuned & enjoy this rare bit of entertainment & enlightenment.

This is more than a film. It is a cinematic teaching tale. It can function on the level of that sort of Sufi contemplation device in which direct experience--through contemplation of a parable--is more important than preaching and didacticism. It is designed with careful artistry so that it is comprehended by the faculty of consciousness mystics call "the heart" rather then by the intellect. The Sufi (and Islamic)traditional saying "Die before you die" has never been so well conveyed. The central figures of Baba and Ishtar embodied by the actors are compelling to the point of beauty, with enough mystery and paradox that you will never be able to put your finger on precisely why, and in what way, you have been moved. But many, many people will be: what ever faith they practice, and even if they do not have one. This film will leave you with the powerful sense that the realm of spirit is the greater reality. -- Joe Martin

Images are of a haunting beauty: the immensity of the desert, the rare trees, birds, rocks trying to make their life there, the sudden oasis with houses made of clay, the paradox of ghost houses surrounded by myriads of people, the mosque, unexpected and weird, like the church from Tarkovski's Stalker.

The music is great, and makes the movie a ballad: it is like the songs make the statement and images and dialog just emphasize. Of course songs are not translated, but give you the mood.

It is not easy at all to follow the story: it comes from a very different culture, with its own rhythms, its own poetry, its own logical connections. For us it is like floating in plain paradox.

For those who haven't seen it yet, think at the movies of Parajanov. It is not an easy movie, but if you overcome the difficulties, you'll get the incomparable beauty of the story.

There are moments that do not come often to us - we should be prepared for them. Encounter with love, with death. Death as the way to enter the great realm that we lost at birth.

And the granddaughter, learning this lesson of life on the way, along with us, who are watching the movie and follow her journey.

Great movie!

Although there are moments when the movie may seem to progress slowly; nonetheless it kept the audience at the cinema glued to their seats. I went to watch the movie twice. It did not attract huge audiences; which in great part may be due to its lack of adequate advertising; but those few who did come to see the movie were glued to their seats. The movie has two great features. One is the soul stirring choice of music and its perfect adaptation to the scenes. Secondly, the movie successfully achieves the difficult undertaking of introducing and explaining in graphic terms and with simple stories the almost exclusively Oriental world of mysticism. The setting might not reflect the physical or material reality of the East, but it definitely does add to the magic and facilitates the viewer's transit from the material world outside to the spiritual world within. Highly recommended.

Weird thing: in the middle of the movie David Lynch appeared in my mind's eye. I don't know why he popped into my head but he did. I must have connected the styles intuitively. The mix of story lines, the impressive and sometimes deeply moving shots, the way it gets under your skin. And like David Lynch movies, it's a bad idea to watch this picture using your head. There's another link I think. Lynch is deeply into awareness techniques. He's been doing TM most of his life. Just surrender to its flow of images, lyrics (I can hardly call this text) and music. You might end up with some miraculous insights (or reminded of them)

a trip. or a spiritual film. or just inspired translation on screen of the Sufi mystic. a beautiful film. or the wise translation of the miracle of life. each of this senses is real.because the film could be an aesthetic delight, remember of old fairy tale from Orient or seductive meet with the meanings of near challenges, using answers from a long and powerful tradition. it is one of films who must see twice. for the story and its senses but, in same measure, for the spell of images , for the portrait of old dervish and his granddaughter, remembering the painting of Domenico Ghirlandaio, Portrait of an old man and his grandson. a film about life and its purpose. like a long travel. or, like a long dream about yourself.

The movie Bab'Aziz was one of the movies that impressed me and its atmosphere was very good, the movie never got boring despite its slow pace, it was a movie that went into the depths of surrealism.

The character of Bab'Aziz is a character who sheds light on today's problems and brings down materiality with his various interpretations of the truth and these stories. Sometimes our most senior status exists in this world to conform to society, or the truth within us, or the divine journey, this faith, and chivalry. Does our social status have any value next to it? Bab'Aziz sheds light on this and jumps to death without fear because he is a character who finds his inner value and truth against materialism. Our love conflicts with materiality and Bab'Aziz makes us search for love here too. Bab'Aziz says that only the journey is enough for divinity, because God is already a person who shows the journey. Of course, God is also a journey theme that touches our inner spirituality here. Spirituality and love against society and materiality, and this by destroying the self, because does our self create the social? Bab'Aziz is a movie that looks for answers to these issues and is exactly what you are looking for.

The film doesn't work. If the film maker planned to talk about dervishes, the poor in search of God, clichés are far from enough. The old blind man's beard is too white, when strolling across immaculate deserts better suited for a Dior perfume's publicity. Crowds are set as for the opera. The tales are just about nothing and the dervishes' conference is seen by somebody who knows not what it's about. The whole film is beside the point, it's fake folklore when it should have been a documentary. It is to Islam what the Sound of music is to Nazism. A transvestite. Ishtar, the girl child is the only credible character,and from time to time the music sounds alright. The recitation of poetry is close to genuine, but not quite, as much liquor is drunk, and ends in bed as in America. Again, it isn't credible in any Muslim culture. "Corruptio optimi pessima" The search for truth can't accommodate lies.

in a special manner. because it is a ball of fairy tales. a delicate web. a testimony. a trip to the heard of things. music, acting, images. as seeds of a bitter-sweet taste.all - under the drops of silence. a film out of words. only a show in different manner. because director not does an artistic work but open some doors. the world becomes scene of powerful colors. empire of a way in which direction is fruit of deep believe. an adventure in desert. but not anonymous trip. because it is almost a map for larges lands of sensitivity. a grandfather and a child. and figures, words, extraordinary music. after end - taste of cinnamon in skin of honey. a film like a page from Oriental stories. but more fragile and cruel, in same time.

The movie was completely hopeless. I will not recommend it to anyone who have no idea what's a Dervish and how is the way into it. half of movie is filled with many Arab guys, speaking senselessly and complete out of the picture. they cant even speak Persian and try it painfully. Sufism was made in Iran and in Persian culture to distinguish between the way Arabs and Persians took to approach to god. I think the Arab directors should seek something in their culture and make movies about them. this kind of subjects are such important and respectful that even the big directors from Iran dare to approach. while directors like Hatamikia, Majidi and Beizaei with their brilliant filmography don't touch such a subject, I wonder how an unknown director did so. I just don't get how some Iranian actors/actresses played in such a waste. Golshifte Farahani is far more superior to play in this movie.