Indulging in Romance, Mysticism, and Movies

As the world explodes in massive political changes I've taken to watching movies as a mode of relaxing and shutting off my brain which spends too much time over analyzing. Flavors of the week? Foreign films (maybe not foreign to some of you) and classic film noir. Last week I watched Caramel directed and starring Nadine Labaki, a Lebanese romance. Compared to American movies where sex is blatant, no one even kissed in this film but the romance was indulgent in all its implications. I found it a really refreshing sort of movie to watch.

I also re-watched Casablanca which I adore! Ingrid Bergman is such a classic beauty and there's nothing like watching Humphrey Bogart be that dark, classy, handsome hero. I really enjoy film noir, and want to watch more of it. I'm entertaining seeing The Maltese Falcon, also starring our boy Humphrey; Rififi, a French crime film of the same genre; and Gilda starring Rita Hayworth.

I've also caught wind of Tunisian director, Nacer Khemir, who has directed a trilogy of spiritual films based on Sufism - Wanderers of the Desert, The Dove's Lost Necklace, and Bab'Aziz: The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul.






The films have a mystical and fantastical quality about them and plots quite similar to that of a fairy tale. Khemir noted in an interview that he felt it was his duty as a filmmaker to show another face of Islam unlike the stereotypes perpetuated by Western governments and media. In discussing his film Bab'Aziz, Khemir states:

Fundamentalism, as well as radicalism, is a distorting mirror of Islam. This movie is a modest effort to give Islam its real image back. No other mission seemed as urgent to me as this one: to give a "face" to hundreds of millions of Muslims who are often, if not always, the first victims of terrorism caused by some fundamentalist. And although this movie is based on the joyful and love-giving Sufi tradition, it is also a highly political film, and deliberately so. It is a duty nowadays to show to the world another aspect of Islam, otherwise, each one of us will be stifled by his own ignorance of "the other one." It is fear that stifles people, not reality. There are nearly one billion Muslims in the world today, that’s one sixth of the Earth’s inhabitants. To try your best to know your neighbor better is a form of hospitality. Hospitality is not just about housing people and feeding them; hospitality is about listening and understanding. You cannot receive someone in your house, just feed him and ignore him! In my opinion, this is a movie that encourages people to listen to each other and, perhaps further down the line, to really come together.