destiny ( 1997 film )
“destiny” - a film to be remembered today. chahine and averroes as relevant as ever. by hans - christian mahnke, windhoek, namibia
“destiny” - a film to be remembered today. chahine and averroes as relevant as ever. by hans - christian mahnke, windhoek, namibia - africavenir international
funding for richard linklater – dream is destiny is provided in part by the national endowment for the arts .
because of linklater' s unstoppable energy, the austin film society was born .
the film shows how ideas can survive no matter how hard tyrants try to squash them .
the 1997 movie contact, starring jodie foster and matthew mcconaughey, proved to be a solid hit for warner bros. however, the film—directed by back to the future helmer robert zemeckis, and based on the book by carl sagan—resulted in a formal complaint being lodged by bill clinton' s white house .
not only is it a great film, and not only did it win chahine the 1997 cannes’ fiftieth anniversary palme d’or, it is today more relevant than ever for egyptian society and the arab world at large. “destiny” at the time challenged religious fanaticism which was affecting the way the arab world looked at politics, how muslims looked at their own personal lives, their social relations, their history, and their cultural practices. as malek khouri stated: “chahine’s contribution marked a watershed in intellectual and filmmaking circles in their refusal of the fundamentalist revisionism that was hegemonizing arab culture and politics. ” the film can be interpreted as a modernist thematic and stylistic attempt to counter religious extremism. and as people on the streets might not necessarily read the writings of intellectuals, the film offers a tool to address the complexity of a phenomenon called religious fundamentalism. chahine’s “destiny” then and today overwhelms the viewer by its popular description of the rising religious ideologies and the struggles, the arab world was facing at the times. “the film supersedes a thousand symposia and lectures that try to deal with the ideas and practices of religious extremism” commented ra’uf tawfiq back in 1997 .
official submission of egypt for the' best foreign language film' category of the 70th academy awards in 1998 .
crew: camera (color), mohsen nasr; editor, rachida abdel salam; music, kamal el tawil, yohia el mougy; art direction, hamed hemdane; costumes, nahed nasrallah; sound (dolby), annette dutertre; choreography, walid aouni. reviewed at cannes film festival (competing), may 14, 1997. running time: 135 min .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
twenty years ago, stars, including then - married couple tom cruise and nicole kidman (pictured here) descended on the beverly hilton hotel in beverly hills, california for the 54th golden globe awards. the annual event honored the year’s best in tv and movies, and saw strong showings from jerry maguire, evita, the x - files, and rasputin: dark servant of destiny. ahead of this weekend’s 74th golden globes, see photos from the 1997 ceremony, ahead .
linklater also serves as the artistic director for the austin film society, which he founded in 1985 to showcase films from around the world that were not typically shown in austin. now one of the nation’s top film organizations, the austin film society shows hundreds of films a year, has educational programs, and has given out over $ 1, 500, 000 in grants to texas filmmakers since 1996 .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice, telling a story of startling cruelty. what a space it opens…
as i write these words, serbs are slaughtering ethnic albanians, and we are bombing serbs. all because of religious and ethnic differences that date almost to the period of this film. at the end of
destiny,'' chahine quotes averroes :
ideas have wings. no one can stop their flight.'' heartening words. but are they flying or fleeing ?
having been to cairo during the most recent political confrontations in egypt, as judge at the 35th cairo international film festival, i was able to witness firsthand the feelings on the streets and the tensions between political forces in the country, on the one hand secular liberal forces, and on the other hand the egyptian president dr. mursi and the muslim brotherhood. the situation reminded me of averroës statue in cordoba and an egyptian film, which i believe, is worthwhile to reconsider and screen as widely as possible to the egyptian public: youssef chahine’s “destiny” .
the most courageous frontal attack on islamic fundamentalism to come out of the arab cinema to date ,
destiny
is both an entertaining historical biopic of the influential 12th century philosopher averroes and a blunt allegory condemning the politically driven fanaticism of present times .
richard linklater often worked alone in his early days as a filmmaker, but he was looking for a community. because of his unstoppable energy, the austin film society was born .
destiny'' takes place in 12th century spain, but could take place today. it is an odd, brave film, part impassioned melodrama, part musical, taking a broad popular approach to questions of religious belief. it was directed by an egyptian, financed from france, set in the spanish province of andalusia, and photographed in lebanon and syria. it' s completely off the map for most american moviegoers, which is one of its charms .
set in the 12th century, more than 200 years before gutenberg invented movable type,'' destiny,'' which the new york film festival is showing today at 5: 30 p. m. and tomorrow at 7: 30 p. m. at alice tully hall, expresses a deeper reverence for books than perhaps any film since truffaut' s'' fahrenheit 451.'' in its most lyrical sequence, after a failed attempt to burn averroes' s library, joseph decides to smuggle a sack of manuscripts back to france. as he totes his precious burden over field and stream, a heavenly choir swells on the soundtrack, cheering him on .
for the lowly protagonist, david mann, spielberg hand - picked character actor dennis weaver because he loved his performance as the jittery and feeble hotel night manager in orson welles’s 1958 film touch of evil .
the scene remains intact in all copies of the film. yet clinton' s image has never been used in a movie this way since. nor any subsequent u. s. president, for that matter .
egyptian director youssef chahine biopic of arab philosopher averroes (who lived in andalusia during the 1100s) is surprisingly compelling, with fine production values, including a lavish color cinematography (this was a co production with france that won awards at the cannes film festival in 1997). averroes (played by nour el sheriff) is seen in the movie, avant la lettre, as a wise champion of rationality and against fundamentalism. aside having to fight the intrigue of fundamentalists, he has to do some optical experiments and also has to deal with family problems, a misguided caliph, and christian troops eager to attack andalusia. the movie also includes ridiculous but charming musical interludes reminiscent of indian movies .
the film is to be praised because it does deal with the muslim berbers from northern africa in spain. the story is seen from their perspective, a perspective that is not usually seen or heard in world cinema .
pic knowingly depicts 12th century arab spain as a land of humanism and love, where muslims, christians and jews lived peacefully side by side. chahine clearly finds much to identify with in averroes, considering that his own life was threatened and his last film, “l’emigre, ” was banned in egypt by fundamentalists. film’s message of hope — that ideas have wings and cannot die — closes pic on an upbeat note and leaves auds satisfied .
the biblical tale of joseph is told from an egyptian perspective in this interesting character study. in this film, joseph is called ram. ram, tired of his family' s backward superstitious... see full summary »
“destiny” takes place in 12th century spain, but could take place today. it is an odd, brave film, part impassioned melodrama, part musical, taking a broad popular approach to questions of religious belief. as we all know, the film involves the real - life philosopher averroes / ibn rushd, who believed that the koran was open to interpretation. yes, he taught, the book is the word of god, but god gave us intelligence so that we might reason about his words and not blindly follow their literal meanings. after all, to assume that the mind of god can be reduced to ordinary human language and contained in mere words is itself a kind of heresy. and those who oppose the interpretation of the koran are of course imposing their own interpretation upon it .
as the truck rams the car over the cliff and falls off in the final film, there is a low roar sound effect that the filmmaker included to emphasize the death of the truck. spielberg, who wanted the truck to seem
at the end of “destiny” chahine quotes averroes: “ideas have wings. no one can stop their flight. ” encouraging words. but are the ideas flying or fleeing? in times like this, let us hope, that reason prevails and that the ideas of social progress and justice, intellectual discourse, and human freedoms reclaim the political arena .
the most courageous frontal attack on islamic fundamentalism to come out of the arab cinema to date, “destiny” is both an entertaining historical biopic of the influential 12th century philosopher averroes and a blunt allegory condemning the politically driven fanaticism of present times. the two - hour - plus tale by the dean of egyptian directors, youssef chahine, makes [ … ]
“destiny” reintegrates modernity and the struggle for modernist renewal in the arab world into the broader struggle against religious fundamentalism. beneath the films story is a conflict between rationalism and fundamentalism that is as fraught today as it ever was. and i wonder, if the current egyptian government would do a promotional tour throughout all governorates, showing the film to government officials, to teachers, to school kids, the youth, the elders, the clerics, social and political movements and the academia. would this be possible? would the government of the day agree that chahine’s wisdom was on par with averroes ?
linklater’s additional credits include the 70s cult hit dazed and confused (1993); before sunrise (1995), for which linklater won the berlin film festival silver bear award for best director; suburbia (1997); the newton boys (1998), a western / gangster film set in the 1920s; the animated feature waking life (2001); the real - time drama tape (2001); the hit comedy school of rock (2003); $ 5: 15 an hour (tv); before sunset (2004), which earned him an academy award nomination; bad news bears (2005); a scanner darkly (2006); fast food nation (2006); inning by inning: a portrait of a coach (2008); me and orson welles (2009); bernie (2012); up to speed (2012, hulu); before midnight (2013); boyhood (2014); everybody wants some! ! (2016); and last flag flying (2017) .
directed by youssef chahine; written (in arabic, with english subtitles) by mr. chahine and khaled youssef; director of photography, mohsen nahr; edited by rachida abdel salam; music by kamal el - tawil and yohia el - mougy; production designer, hamed hemdane; produced by humbert balsan and gabriel khoury. shown today at 5: 30 and tomorrow at 7: 30 p. m. at alice tully hall as part of the 35th new york film festival. running time: 135 minutes. this film is not rated .
'' destiny'' opens with a bang in france as one of the philosopher' s heroic disciples is tied to the end of a horse and dragged through the streets of languedoc, then gruesomely burned at the stake. moments before he shrivels into a cinder, the martyr instructs his son joseph to find averroes, and the boy rushes off to andalusia, where the rest of the movie unfolds .
eagle - eyed viewers will catch the word “flammable” scrawled across the back of the truck, yet when it careens off the cliff at the end of the movie it doesn’t go boom. the studio wanted a big explosion, but the director wanted a slower demise for his film’s villain .
the snakerama gas station seen in the film also appears in spielberg' s 1979 world war ii comedy, 1941, with actress lucille benson again appearing as the proprietor. the two elderly people weaver tries to flag down in a car also appear as helpless motorists in close encounters of the third kind .
as the film opens, a follower of averroes is being burned at the stake, the bonfire fed by his writings. the burning man calls out to his son to seek out the philosopher, and the main story takes place in andalusia, where averroes has gathered a group of disciples who study his books and copy them by hand. ah, but that gives a wrong idea of the film, which is not about scholars in their cells, but about politics, sexual passion, jealousy and romance, with several song and dance numbers. imagine
my dinner with andre'' as a musical .
these are only some of the elements that the movie stirs together none too gracefully. the plot folds in several love stories, but like the songs and dances they are draped onto the movie like gaudy, crowd - pleasing accessories. beneath all the glitz and fancy swashbuckling,'' destiny'' insinuates a message. the movie isn' t so much a reappraisal of religious strife eight centuries ago as it is a warning against the dangers of fundamentalist intolerance now .
france released, pal / region 2 dvd: languages: arabic (dolby digital 2. 0), arabic (dolby digital stereo), english (subtitles), french (subtitles), widescreen (1. 78: 1), special features: interactive menu, scene access, synopsis: in twelfth - century cordoba, the caliph orders all books written by the eminent philosopher averroe' s to be burnt, to mollify the fundamentalists. averroe' s family and followers decide to make copies of his books and smuggle them across the border. despite the pressure from fundamentalists, human knowledge prevails and the influence of averroe' s teaching extended through the enlightenment to the present day. screened / awarded at: cannes film festival, ... destiny (le destin) (al massir )
the issue surrounded some footage of president clinton at a 1996 press conference, in which the then - potus was talking about a rock that was believed to have come from mars. in the film, zemeckis edited the footage to make it seem as if clinton was talking about the messages that had seemingly come from alien sources .
much of the film' s interest comes from historical details. we hear of the great arabic contributions to mathematics, and we see a fascinating invention, a telescope that uses the magnifying power of water in order to work. we see a society that is part european, part arabic, in which islam is as much a political movement as a religious one. and then there is the uncanny way the characters have of looking toward the camera and simply breaking out into song. (i was reminded of woody allen' s
everyone says i love you,'' which was equally direct in the way ordinary people moved from speech to singing .) there are places in the world where
destiny,'' directed by the veteran egyptian filmmaker youssef chahine, would be controversial - - even dangerous. in those places, the music and romance will help find a wider audience for a charged message. the interest in this country is more indirect. the film is naive and simple at times, even clumsy in its musical sequences, and yet lurking beneath its story is a conflict between rationalism and fundamentalism that is as fraught today as it ever was .
warner bros. did concede that it had no formal sign - off on using the footage. furthermore, the white house did not seek to pull the film, or even have it re - edited. rather, president clinton' s administration wanted to raise the issue of unauthorized use of his image—presumably to dissuade others from trying something similar in the future .
the prop recreators at chronicle collectibles have collaborated with universal studios to make the canisters as faithful to the original as possible. just like the prop used in the film, the vessel resembles an unassuming can of shaving cream from the outside. but screw off the bottom and you' ll find a secret compartment filled with vials the perfect size for storing prehistoric genetic material .
jurassic park (1993) is known for having some incredible props. the fake shaving cream can dennis nedry uses to smuggle dinosaur dna out of the cold storage unit may not be as iconic as the life - sized t. rex, but it still plays a colossal role in the film. now, io9 reports that an official replica of the prop can soon be yours .
benjamin guggenheim: no, thank you. we are dressed in our best and are prepared to go down as gentlemen. but, we would like a brandy .
collide with destiny
titanic is a movie i' ve seen countless times since i was a little kid and it came out. this movie is one that seems to polarize people to extremes. some love it and will call it one of the best movies they' ve seen and others will hate it and label it one of the worst. as far as where i stand on it today, i still believe it is a very good film that benefits from marvelous special effects. jack wins his way onto the titanic in a poker game and runs into first class rich girl, rose, when she is hanging off the end of the ship, apparently about to commit suicide. jack saves her and they start spending a lot of time together, which really pisses off rose' s rich, but unpleasant fiancé, cal hockley. the story is told by the 102 year old rose, as treasure seeker brock lovett searches for a diamond that was given to rose by cal on the boat. the movie has its share of problems. the dialogue, at times, can be corny, as can the actions. the acting, while serviceable most of the time, has some terrible moments, especially from billy zane and bill paxton. also, the film suffers slightly from its long run time. it' s not something that bothers me a great deal, but had the film been cut by something like 20 or 30 minutes, it would have flowed a lot better. titanic isn' t james cameron' s best film, but it is a majestic and epic one. i like leonardo dicaprio and kate winslet as jack and rose, and i also really liked kathy bates as a first class passenger that has just come into her money. this isn' t one of the best films ever, but it' s, at times, fun, sad, infuriating, and joyful. there' s an emotional rollercoaster going on here .
spielberg got his start directing for tv at the age of 21, helming episodes of such shows as night gallery and marcus welby, m. d. but the aspiring filmmaker was desperately searching for a property he could turn into a feature film. it was spielberg' s secretary, nona tyson, who found matheson’s story in playboy and first sent it to her boss to potentially adapt into a movie .
largely constructed as a passionate melodrama, the film' s interest comes from historical details. it is a historical epic: we hear of the great arabic contributions to mathematics, and we see a fascinating invention, a telescope that uses the magnifying power of water in order to work. we see a society that is part european, part arabic, in which islam is as much a political movement as a religious one. and the film explicitly alludes to the role played by european leaders in fomenting support for fundamentalist cults in arab - occupied spain. european monarchs broadly opposed the then social, cultural and national heterogeneity, scientific progress, and intellectual freedom and openness of muslim - arab andalusia, and chahine refers to the colonial politics of divide and conquer, by highlighting the collaboration between european leaders and islamic fundamentalism, forces opposed to a modernist renewal .
i visited cordoba, spain this year for the first time, attending the 9th african film festival cordoba as a panellist and international guest. here i came across the statue of an arabic scholar born 1126 in cordoba, and died in 1198 in marrakesh. abū l - walīd muammad bin ʾahmad bin rušd (arabic: أبو الوليد محمد بن احمد بن رشد‎), commonly known as ibn rushd (arabic: ابن رشد‎) or by his latinized name averroës .
tyson helped track down whether the movie rights to matheson’s story had been optioned, and eventually discovered that a teleplay was in development at abc and universal with producer george eckstein. spielberg took a meeting with eckstein, and brought a rough cut of his legendary 73 - minute series premiere episode of columbo, “murder by the book. ” eckstein was impressed, and gave spielberg the job to direct duel after a follow - up meeting where the filmmaker laid out how he envisioned the film from matheson’s screenplay in full .
good movie. one big complaint. the film doesn' t really explain the influence of the writings of the philosopher averroes on almohad culture. we can only tell that averroes is a good and intelligent man because of the advise he gives or teaches to others. the major story is of a planned coup d' etat against the caliph. averroes is definitely caught up in this struggle between the caliph and sheik riad. the reasons are not given why the muslims rejected the ideas of aristotle, for whom averroes was the greatest exponent .
the most courageous frontal attack on islamic fundamentalism to come out of the arab cinema to date, “ destiny ” is both an entertaining historical biopic of the influential 12th century philosopher averroes and a blunt allegory condemning the politically driven fanaticism of present times. the two - hour - plus tale by the dean of egyptian directors, youssef chahine, makes scant concessions to western cinema, and pic will pose a challenge to western auds not used to some of its conventions, like having the story interrupted by egyptian song - and - dance production numbers. this should be one of the major arab films on the fest circuit this year, while theatrical prospects will be subject to local auds’ curiosity about the topic. the reaction of viewers in the arab markets will no doubt swing strongly in both positive and negative directions .
casper van dien of starship troopers stars as james dean, whose remarkable talent and rebel attitude took hollywood by storm. but as dean' s star begins to rise, his passionate affair with italian ingenue pier angeli (carrie mitchum of the bold and the beautiful) angers her disapproving mother (academy award nominee diane ladd) and studio chief jack warner (mike connors). how did a broken heart, reckless behavior and his relationships with natalie wood, sal mineo and director george stevens (the legendary robert mitchum in his final screen role) lead to dean' s ultimate race with destiny? connie stevens, joseph campanella and casey kasem co - star in this revealing biopic that goes behind the myth to tell the true story of the superstar who lived fast, died young and left a legacy that changed movies forever .
this is a great historical epic. it' s from the 1100' s spain, which was ruled by muslim rulers at the time. it centers around averroe who is a great medieval philosopher and a thinker. he clashes with fundamentalists who are attempting to stamp out all free thought and other
vices
of their time. it is not only a great historical account, but also a very urgent and important message for our day. the irony of history is that at the time, the muslim world was the educated world and christian europe was very backward and illiterate. it' s another one of those
must see
movies and in fact should be a required material for schools. the movie is hard to get as it is a european production, but it' s not impossible, try amazon and ebay - - it' s worth it. just make sure you get ntsc version or have a pal - compatible vcr / dvd if you get the pal version. there are also some movie rentals that have this movie in their foreign film section. the film is in arabic with english subtitles, which may discourage some, but it' s wonderful. arabic is such a melodic language and it add authenticity to the account .
james cameron is by far one of my favorite directors, and this being his second highest grossing film is well worth all the money it got. the acting was very fantastic and the drama is also very well told, leonardo dicaprio, kate winslet, billy zane, gloria stuart, and even bill paxton all did fantastically well. billy zane was great as being the douchebag millionare that is betrothed to rose, so well that you literally wanted to punch him. also the 3 hour time run is actually very well done, and it doesn' t feel like it, it feels like 2 hours, there were some things they could' ve left out, like the sex scene or the nude art drawing, i understand that its to prove the two main characters are getting much closer and truly love each other, but they could' ve just kissed passionatley and do a 360 camera spin. but overall, this to me is camerons best, avatar was just a ripped off story and just mindless action, but this was legitimate and good drama and acting
as the film opens, a follower of averroes is being burned at the stake, the bonfire fed by his writings. the burning man calls out to his son to seek out the philosopher, and the main story takes place in andalusia, where averroes has gathered a group of disciples who study his books and copy them by hand. andalusia is ruled by a caliph, who has two sons, one a follower of averroes, the other a party animal who is lured into the camp of fundamentalists. one feels of these fundamentalists, that they' re driven not so much by what they believe, as by their fear or envy of those who do not agree. the movie argues that a belief that cannot stand up to free debate is not a belief worth holding. political intrigue is rife in the area. the caliph supports averroes, but is opposed by a sect that hopes to overthrow him. meanwhile, his oldest son is concealing a forbidden love with a gypsy woman, and his trusted adviser is working both sides of the street. a secret project is set in motion to copy the writings of averroes and spirit them far away, in case the tide turns and his books are burned again .
in 12th century cordoba, the eminent philosopher averroes, established an important body of work. the influence of his teaching extended through the enlightenment and is still felt today. in order to mollify the fundamentalists, the caliph al - mansur orders all of averroes' books to be burnt. averroes' family and followers decide to make copies of his books and to smuggle them across the border. despite the pressure put on by the fundamentalists, human knowledge prevails in its journey toward the other, toward progress .
in 12th century cordoba, the eminent philosopher averroes, established an important body of work. the influence of his teaching extended through the e ...
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the story is set in the 12th century in arab - ruled spanish province andalusia, where famed philosopher averroes is appointed grand judge by the caliph and his liberal court judgements are... see full summary »
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the story is set in the 12th century in arab - ruled spanish province andalusia, where famed philosopher averroes is appointed grand judge by the caliph and his liberal court judgements are not liked by everyone. the caliph' s political rivals, centered around the leader of a fanatical islamic sect, force the caliph to send averroes into exile, but his ideas keep on living thanks to his students .
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the region is ruled by a politically savvy caliph (mahmoud hemeida) who is displeased with his handsome rebel sons, nasser and abdallah. nasser, the older son, is a cool - headed follower of averroes, while abdallah, who has impregnated a poor gypsy servant, is a confused, wild - spirited youth who scandalizes the family by dancing in public with commoners. the boy undergoes a radical change after being seduced into joining a fanatical islamic sect that takes him into the desert and brainwashes him into becoming a sloganeering fundamentalist crank .
the caliph meanwhile must secure his rule against the schemes of a wealthy sheik who has cannily aligned himself with the fundamentalist movement. when the caliph' s close friendship with averroes proves politically inconvenient, he dumps him, and the philosopher finds his life in peril. the conflicts culminate in a spectacular book - burning that isn' t quite the tragedy it appears, since nasser has smuggled copies of averroes' s manuscripts to egypt for safekeeping. an optimistic final slogan declares that progress can' t be stopped because'' ideas have wings.''
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with: nour el - cherif (averroes), laila eloui (gypsy woman), mahmoud hemeida (the caliph), safia el - emary (averroes' s wife), khaled el - nabaoui (nasser) and hani salama (abdallah) .
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basically the story of a man forced to finally see the injustice around him. riley’s movie is designed to do the same thing to you. …
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the story involves the real - life arabic philosopher averroes, who believed that the koran was open to interpretation. yes, he taught, the book is the word of god, but god gave us intelligence so that we might reason about his words and not blindly follow their literal meanings. after all, to assume that the mind of god can be reduced to ordinary human language and contained in mere words is itself a kind of heresy. and those who oppose the interpretation of the koran are of course imposing their own interpretation upon it .
andalusia is ruled by a caliph, who has two sons, one a follower of averroes, the other a party animal who is lured into the camp of fundamentalists. one feels of these fundamentalists, as one often does about the type in general, that they' re driven not so much by what they believe, as by their fear or envy of those who do not agree. the movie argues that a belief that cannot stand up to free debate is not a belief worth holding .
political intrigue is rife in the area. the caliph supports averroes, but is opposed by a cult that hopes to overthrow him. meanwhile, his oldest son is concealing a forbidden love with a gypsy woman, and his trusted adviser is working both sides of the street. a secret project is set in motion to copy the writings of averroes and spirit them far away, in case the tide turns and his books are burned again (a good possibility) .
an interview with terry gilliam, director of
the man who killed don quixote .
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starring: nour el - sherif (averroes), laila eloui (manuella), mahmoud hemida (al mansour, the caliph), safia el emari (averroes' wife), mohamed mounir (the bard), khaled el nabaoui (nasser, the crown prince), seif el dine (the caliph' s brother), abdalla mahmoud (borhan), ahmed fouad selim (cheikh riad), magdi idris (emir of the sect), ahmed moukhtar (bard), sherifa maher (manuella' s mother), rayek azzab (el razi), hassan el adl (gaafar), hani salama (abdalla) .
languedoc (central part of southern france), 12th century. a man is being dragged through the streets behind a horse. he is then tied to a stake to be burned. . he sees his son joseph and his wife and shouts for joseph to take his mother out of here. a man steps out to read the sentence :
by order of the holy church of languedoc, the tribunal of the inquisition, sentences the heretic gerard breuil to be burned at the stake, along with all his writings, for straying from the way of our lord and translating the work of the heretic averroes .
the fire is lit. now mother and son rush away from the scene .
joseph and another fellow help walk the mother back to their crude home of sticks and she collapses just after crossing the stream by the home. the other man tells joseph that his mother has died and that he will take care of everything for joseph .
andalusia (central and southwest part of southern france), 12th century. the people shout :
long live caliph mansur !
a man in the crowd shouts :
long live the victor of alarcos !
in the crowd joseph asks a man where can he find averroes, the high judge? the man says that averroes is his teacher and he will take joseph to meet him .
joseph is eating dinner with averroes and his pupils. one of these pupils is the son of the caliph, abdallah, but he soon leaves the table to go dancing .
the caliph' s physician averroes comes to see the caliph, who says he can' t sleep due to worrying about his two sons, nasser and abdallah, who are no more than failures. nassser just cares about horses and women and there' s simply no hope for abdallah. he only lives for his dancing .
but abdallah is concerned with women too. he is having a secret relationship with a woman. the woman sarah, who describes herself as a poor gypsy girl, is worried about the relationship saying that she has to hide the truth from her sister manuela. and she wishes to remain chaste .
at a tavern the man benhar shouts
long live the victor of alarcos !
and he and his friends stare at abdallah, one of the sons of the caliph. abdallah drinks until he is drunk. benhar speaks with abdallah and fills him with words of great praise. he says he and the men with him would love to partake of his knowledge and asks abdallah to spend the night with them. but abdallah has some dancing to do. with a spanish woman named manuela he dances in flamenco style. after the dancing is over benhar asks abdallah to go with them and he consents .
benhar and abdallah bathe in a turkish bath facility. they then participate in a religious ceremony in which dancing is involved. in the morning they attend the
class
given by the caliph' s physician, averroes. benhar makes a complaint against al - mansur which the teacher answers .
a man says to a group of men led by sheik riad that averroes outsmarted behan. the men say that they must silence averroes. perhaps they should ask the caliph to silence averroes .
a friend of averroes named marwan tells him that the men that leave the mosque when he is talking are part of some planned demonstration. he says he will write a song in response, but averroes tells him to be careful or it could cost him his life. late at night the man sings his song and he is jumped by benhar and his men who beat him and then stab him in the side of the neck. the caliph' s other son, nasser, rides his horse at the men and they disperse. the wounded man is taken to the physician averroes. he saves marwan' s life .
marwan' s wife comes rushing up screaming for marwan. she rushes into the house of averroes and throws joseph out of the room where her husband is resting .
the caliph calls in averroes, the governor of cordoba and crown prince nasser and tells them that the security of the almohad dynasty has never been as threatened as it is today and he wants to know what the men are doing about it. averroes says people are exploiting religion because the caliph lets them. the caliph responds that he is concerned only about one man. and he wants this assailant captured. averroes says that these barbarians he is talking about are threatening the almohad culture. he pleads that the caliph should have the assailant captured, but more importantly, he should have the man questioned so that they may be able to find out what' s ailing the country. he adds that there is a conspiracy behind the assault .
the assailant is captured. nasser comes in and slaps the face of the already bloodied captive. averroes tends to benhar' s wounds, while talking with him. the philosopher wants to know who told the assailant that marwan was an enemy to god. the guy just keeps repeating the same lines over and over again .
averroes finds out that the assailant has a brother who left a cult they both were a part of and the assailant tried to kill his brother. averroes now wants to meet with the brother. the brother says the movement people fill the initiates with all kinds of praise and flattery. once they have the trust of the initiates, they then begin to wear the new fellows down. they are taken out into the desert where they must walk and pray endlessly in the hot sun. this weakens the men both mentally and physically. and it is this way that the initiates become slaves to the will of the emir. the initiates are told to go out among the people and tell them that people have become impious and they must turn back to the real truth. the brother remembers when benhar told him :
every throat i cut takes me one step closer to paradise .
averroes holds court for the assailants. his judgment is that, because the young men were led astray by others, he will sentence the accused to five years in prison. marwian' s wife is very happy about the judgments, but the caliph is not. he tells averroes that he defied his caliph by handing out such light sentences. the caliph adds that the whole council is angry about his light sentences. averroes gets disgusted and leaves .
later averroes visits the jail where the three men sentenced to five years have been hanged and still dangle from the rafters. averroes says that they must find the brother saad and hide him or else he probably will face the same fate .
sheik raid is the one behind the plot and the cult. his right hand man, the emir, who arranged the attack on marwan, says that he would like to become a judge again. averroes had caught him accepting bribes and removed him from his office. sheik raid is willing even to give the man averroes' s position .
averroes writes out a letter of resignation. he is incensed that the caliph ignores what is really going on in andalusia and he does not want to contribute to a system that is corrupt. nasser and a friend tell him the good things that the caliph has done for averroes personally. he built him a library and encouraged him to write commentaries on the greek philosopher aristotle. so averroes tears up his resignation letter. nasser tells him to forget about the caliph and concentrate on this sheik riad .
abdallah tells marwan, who is still healing, to get up and pray to allah. for if he is to die, he should do it in a state of pureness. marwan' s wife manuela gets after abdallah for asking her husband to get up. abdalla says thank goodness there are others who know what is wrong. the wife asks who are these geniuses and what do they say? abdallah says they say the real culprit is in the palace. manuela asks abdallah if he has gone crazy? abdallah leaves. manuela asks what' s gotten into that man? sarah, her sister, says this happened because he is running away from her due to the fact that she is carrying abdallah' s baby. manuela gets upset about this because she says that if the caliph knows that abdallah has a gypsy heir, he will surely cut the baby' s throat. her brother - in - law says that she should just forget abdallah. but that is not easy for her to do .
joseph seeks a hiding place for the complete works of averroes. he puts the books into a big barrel of flour down in the cellar of averroes' s home. at dinner at the house, marwan comes over to greet the men and women. he goes around the room thanking people for saving his life. all of a sudden they realize that the home library is on fire. averroes is devastated by the damage caused by the fire (that is put out by the rain). his happiness is restored when joseph shows him that his books are all safe and sound .
averroes believes that the fire was the work of shiek riad. he tells nasser that the sheik wants all the power. later nasser tells his father about this, but the caliph won' t listen. he tells nasser that the council wants to burn all of averroes' s books and that riad opposes this fatwa.
destiny ( arabic : المصير , translit . al-massir ) is a 1997 french-egyptian historical drama film directed by youssef chahine . it was screened out of competition at the 1997 cannes film festival . the film was selected as the egyptian entry for the best foreign language film at the 70th academy awards , but was not accepted as a nominee . the film is about averroes , a 12th-century philosopher from andalusia who would be known as the most important commentator on aristotle . 
destiny (arabic: المصير, translit. al-massir) is a 1997 french-egyptian historical drama film directed by youssef chahine. it was screened out of competition at the 1997 cannes film festival. the film was selected as the egyptian entry for the best foreign language film at the 70th academy awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. the film is about averroes, a 12th-century philosopher from andalusia who would be known as the most important commentator on aristotle.
destiny (arabic: المصير, translit. al-massir) is a 1997 french-egyptian historical drama film directed by youssef chahine. it was screened out of competition at the 1997 cannes film festival. the film was selected as the egyptian entry for the best foreign language film at the 70th academy awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. the film is about averroes, a 12th-century philosopher from andalusia who would be known as the most important commentator on aristotle.