Journey to Mecca

Journey to Mecca tells the story of a young lawyer from Morroco - Ibn Battuta who traveled from Morocco to Mecca and later to China about 700 years ago. He traveled more than 4,000 kilometers over desert by himself, dealing with bandits, wars, and the Sahara on the way.

The images in this HUGE Imax film of the Sahara, Mecca and Arab culture are stunning and memorable. I have to say it was one of the first IMAX film where I really felt moved (along with Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure). The explanation of the Haj are clear and informing.

This was apparently a very hard movie to film. They had to get approval by the King of Saudi to shoot it. Also none of the crew were allowed to view the Kabba so they had to hire and train a local crew specially for the task.

The result is a stunning experience of a movie. Excellent story, excellent movie… Highly recommended

I think I understand Artemis' frustration insofar as very little exists in cinema on Ibn Battutah, one of the world's most influential travelers, unequaled among great explorers in my mind since the 14th Century. A 3 hour Hollywood epic would certainly do his Rihla ("travels") justice but I have to say by focusing on IB's departure from home on his first pilgrimage to Mecca this Imax film blew me away with its stunning imagery and music as well as its open spiritual approach to the Hajj.

The aerial shots of pilgrims meandering across various deserts were enough to blow my mind. And as a non-Muslim, to witness the rituals inside the Great Mosque was an unforgettable and touching experience. Perhaps a devout Muslim would be more technical in his/her appreciation of the film.

I saw the film at a festival in Paris (where it won Public Prize) and noticed how moved the Muslim audience was, which made up about half of the audience when I attended. I highly recommend this film. Imax films can be spectacular visually but predictable in subject matter, rarely extending beyond animal or sport topics. This one delivers the spectacle you would expect and applies it to a moving dramatic line that enlightened and moved me.

Journey to Mecca is really two IMAX films in one. It starts and ends with a documentary approach to modern Mecca and in between is tied with the story of Ibn Battuta, an adventurer from the 14th Century. Obviously, in the length of an IMAX, anyone expecting the Arabian Nights covering 40 years of his life in 40 minutes is going to be disappointed. Instead, the film concentrates on his 'Journey to Mecca', a story of shipwrecks and banditry. I thought it was a smart way to go, spicing up what is at heart, a most serious movie, with sword fights while never letting go of the religious quest that is at the heart of the Hajj. Most impressive of all are the shots of the modern pilgrims. Any one who's jaw doesn't drop at the sight of millions of men and women dressed all in white, covering a mountain top, doesn't know the true meaning of the word 'epic'.

"Very inspiring movie, and very inspiring journey, Amazing cinematography, Short but very inspirational"

Disappointing. Really. From all the interesting, adventurous and cool things that happened in Ibn Batutta's life none were used. An average person will have a distorted view of Ibn Batutta. If I hadn't read his Book I would too. I feel that the creators of this movie cleverly used his name to sell a documentary on Hajj. Even there too - Hajj is just sloppily touched on and the movie abruptly ends. There is no real in-sight into how Muslims used to live or how Ibn Batutta lived - you go in knowing nothing and come out knowing less. I hear that a lot of 'research' was done but apart from the footage of the Ka'ba (which you just need permission and a camera for) I don't see any of it. There was so many obvious glitches (like every man in the Great Caravan having mustaches instead of beards and the women walking around with their hair loose under small scarves - clearly extras from the eastern film industry and in no way properly portraying the style of Muslims couple of hundred years ago.)Anything you saw in a Moroccan film you'll see here.I don't know what research these creators are talking about. From a plot point of view this movie was bland. We see Zinoune travel through the boring, empty,dry desert most of the time. There was no real substance or story-line. I was expecting more considering how exciting the trailer and synopsis were made out to be. The only good thing is that Muslims aren't portrayed as mass-murderers and the Hajj has accurate details (we'll pretend we never saw everyone coming up from Sijda without the Imaam saying 'Allaah-hu-Akbar'). In short - a highly-pumped, overrated, pointless movie with no idea what it wants to be or where its going. A loose cannon. I can't believe that we're supposed to believe that they actually did research about Ibn Batutta, ancient Arabia or Hajj. You'd have to know absolutely nothing about Islaam to watch this film - if that's you, then go for it, but if you know even a little bit - take a pass. Read his book; it was way better.