Bab'Aziz

This week I hurried off to the cinema to see Bab’Aziz by director Nacer Khemir. As is typical with non western stories it takes many detours much like the shifting sands of where the film was shot. It left me wondering what the movie was about but in the end I decided that didn’t matter, for we don’t need to know everything. Perhaps it would be better to describe the film as a visual poem; certainly the music would support this notion.

While the movie is filmed in a desert, which turned out to be Tunisia and Iran the landscape was beautiful and if music can seduce you than this does. I don’t know whether it will stand up without the visuals but I am definitely going to find out.

The story revolves around a blind dervish named Bab’Aziz and his granddaughter, Ishtar. Together they wander the desert in search of a great reunion of dervishes that takes place just once every thirty years. They don’t know where the gathering will take place and apparently none of the other attendees do either, but all believe that their faith will be their guide, which proves to be correct. For they are very in tune with their inner voice.

To keep Ishtar entertained, Bab’Aziz relays the ancient tale of a prince who relinquished his realm in order to remain next to a small pool in the desert, staring into its depths while contemplating his soul. This story is told in fits and starts through the film and it began to remind me of the stories that Queen Scheherazade told her King in A Thousand and One Nights. While Khemir has created a story of longing and belonging it also speaks to death; when our time is up and how we chose to die. It is a beautiful and thoughtful movie; perhaps a love poem to his father to whom it was dedicated. I am going back to see it one more time before it is gone forever!