Word: meccaã
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Perhaps as a 45 minute IMAX movie about the Hajj, this was all that was possible to communicate about the greatest traveler of the old world. However, in contrast to the highly critical opinion of the Crimson’s film critic, ‘Journey to Mecca?? does succeed in imparting the meaning of the Hajj and its rituals in a uniquely dramatic manner. It certainly presents some of the spiritual aspects of the Islamic heritage in an entertaining, yet responsible way rarely, if ever, presented in the cinema in the West. The producers...
...West can understand the subtlety and beauty of the Islamic culture comes in the form of a docu-drama made up to look like an historical epic—one whose patronizing tone is only outpaced by its incompetent execution. Bruce Neibaur, director of “Journey to Mecca?? (though only one of its culprits), seems to advocate this theory. This is the only reasonable explanation...
...Contrary to what many may believe, “Journey to Mecca?? is not a documentary. Despite the note that much of its publicity has taken—emphasizing the inclusion of unprecedented footage of the modern Hajj, and invoking National Geographic as its chief patron—there is little about the film that aspires to an insightful portrayal of actual events. Instead, viewers are subjected to skeletal dramatic summary of the first voyage of Ibn Battuta, a Berber from 12th-century Tangiers, whose journal chronicles a lifetime of travel the scale of which outstrips the expeditions...
...Neibaur and the others were aware of any of these potentially rewarding questions, “Journey to Mecca?? does its best to say otherwise. Ibn’s story is recalled with a flaccidity which could be called reductive if it seemed to serve any purpose to begin with—the young traveler is subjected to the expected travails of any desert-sojourn: sand storms, bandits and the search for water. With the help of his trusty, rough-around-the-edges Bedouin sidekick, however, he braves the obstacles and reaches Mecca, much to the expectation...
...promoting the film, claimed that the camel caravan used to transport crew and equipment through the desert was the largest to pass through that region. [SEE CORRECTIONS BELOW] But you’d never know it. Most of the shots in “Journey to Mecca?? are dialogue shots—closed in on Ibn and his companion—or utterly blank desert topography, which could basically be filmed anywhere. Viewers expecting to be overtaken by breathtaking Arabian vistas on a “Planet Earth” scale will be more than disappointed. They?...