Massir, al- (1997)

reviewed by
Harvey S. Karten


DESTINY By Harvey Karten, Ph.D. International Films Director: Youssef Chahine Writer: Youssef Chahine, Khaled Youssef Cast: Nour el Cherif, Laila Eloui, Mahmoud Hemeida, Safia El Emary, Mohamed Mounir, Khaled El Nabaoui, Seif Abdel Rahman, Abdallah Mahmoud "Destiny," which takes place in the Andalucia of the 12th century, looks like something that could have been taken from the 10 o'clock CNN news. Its theme is deeply political: a complex struggle between the forces of Islamic fundamentalism and the vigor of moderation over what doctrine will rule over what is now a Spanish province. While the story, transported to the end of the 20th century, could relate to the ongoing civil war in Algeria or the disturbances by extremists in Egypt or the struggle between Muslim fundamentalists in Senegal against the moderate government there, it could also serve as a parable of cult movements here in the United States. Youssef Chahine, known as Egypt's foremost film-maker-- and a prolific one at that--has knocked out quite a few commercial items, but when Gamal Abdul Nasser pushed Pan-Arabism in his bid to rule over the entire Middle East, Chahine directed the nationalistic epic "El Naser Sallah-e- din/Salladin. After Egypt's defeat by Israel in the 1967 war, he continued at the helm of political dramas. "Destiny" could scarcely be called anything but polemical. "Destiny," an Egyptian-France co-production, was filmed in Lebanon and Syria, which look more like the Andalucia of the 12th century than today's province--which is overrun by tourists in search of sun, flamenco, and bullfights and gypsy caves. It centers on the character of Abu ibn Rushd, the Arab philosopher known as Averroes (Nour el Cherif), who, like Socrates in ancient Athens had formed a nucleus of students eager to discuss his teachings and his books. Averroes taught nothing more scandalous--or so we in the West think-- than that the way to treat religion is to combine revelation with reason. What is in the Koran is subject to interpretation, he said, in much the way the Martin Luther later felt that the common people should be able to read and understand the Bible for themselves. For this "heresy," his books were burned, some of his followers went up in smoke, and governments teeted on the edge of oblivion. The young son of the Caliph (Mahmoud Hemeida), a womanizer (Muhamed Mounir) who is at first apolitical, is converted to fundamentalism in just three weeks, a phenomenon made possible by members of an extremist cult who used flattery to persuade him of his "greatness" as a poet. As Andalucia prepared for ideological warfare, Averroes, unable to protect his many books, ultimately laughs at a burning ceremony since, he believed, ideas have wings. Flames cannot stop their flight. What might have been a sober inquiry into the conflict between moderation and fundamentalism combined with striking visuals of the topography and debates among the various sides has instead become a cowboy movie filled with the sorts of characters you find today in light Indian romances. As a swashbuckler, few things in "Destiny" seem right: rather, the picture appears to come at us from a past era when Tom Mix and Gabby Hayes reigned supreme. The songs which are interspersed give a musical-comedy feel to the work, and that's just fine. In a post-screening press conference, director Chahine convinces us that God wants us to be happy, to sing and to dance, and he admits to doing quite a bit of both ever at 4 in the morning. As one of his characters says, "We'll sing day in, day out, for the rest of our lives." If only everyone in the Middle East felt that way! Chahine's heart is in the right place with "Destiny," but the stereotypical portrayals undermine his purport. The film was screened at the 1997 New York Film Festival and awaits a distributor. Not Rated. Running Time: 135 minutes. (C) 1997 Harvey Karten


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