The Destiny (1997)
In the 12th century's Andalusia lives Ibn Rushd a prominent Islamic philosopher with his wife Zeinab and daughter Salma. The principality is ruled by Khalifa ElMansour who has two sons, ElNasser, an intellectual that likes Ibn Rush and is in love with his daughter Salma. The younger son Abdallah is more into dancing and poetry, spending most of his times with the gypsy family and getting the daughter pregnant. The Khalifa is depending on the extremists to build his army granting them more power which they use to combat artists and philosophers. The extremists succeed in recruiting Abd Allah and train him to kill his father. Events go on where Marawan, the gypsy singer, is killed and Ibn Rushd's books are burnt. Adapted from the real life of Ibn Rushd AlMasir is Chahine's statement against extremism.
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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
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 !!! ***
This film has got the lot. It's a musical, a romance, adventure, politics and more if you want it. Great fun to be had on a serious matter concerning the hypercritical religions.
Americans and Europeans should treat themselves to the courageous joy of this infectious film, if you can find it. If you're looking for Latcho Drom with a great story, this is it!Destiny is singularly beautiful in that it celebrates humanist passions and ideas as they were once allowed to be expressed in the Islamic culture of 12th century Spain. The Egyptian director Youssef Chahine ventures this anti-fundamentalist statement in a contemporary cultural climate where fundamentalism is on the rise. It exposes the street fascism and subtle eroticism that seduces young men into such sects.Destiny is exuberant. It has humor, music, dancing, free thinking dialogue, intriguing sets and architecture and, most of all, the ensemble portrayal of a joyful philosophic community whose members you can really grow to love. All the earthly things fundamentalists detest!Chahine deserves a larger world audience, by virtue of his bravery and outspoken-ness. He argues at risk of his own life in this film. If Akira Kurosawa could be embraced so wholeheartedly by the international community, so should Chahine. This film is a landmark. I hope financing from our part of the world will find its way to him. He has guts and passion.The film itself is like nothing else you will see made on these shores. It is emotionally unabashed. Our western ideals of coolness and hipness restrict many of our directors and actors. Passion is too often reserved for climactic moments, and commonly those moments are angry intimidation or vengeance scenes sparked by the Pacino clones of the world. Much of the actor's job is running and posing. In Destiny, the actors are not posing - they are joyfully uninhibited and alive!Recommended highly!! Vigorous entertainment. Brave ideas. Exotic sets. Bold, hand-hewn directorial craftsmanship. Great true story. And your only chance to see 12th century Andalusian culture come alive!