Bab'Aziz

Images are of a haunting beauty: the immensity of the desert, the rare trees, birds, rocks trying to make their life there, the sudden oasis with houses made of clay, the paradox of ghost houses surrounded by myriads of people, the mosque, unexpected and weird, like the church from Tarkovski's Stalker.

The music is great, and makes the movie a ballad: it is like the songs make the statement and images and dialog just emphasize. Of course songs are not translated, but give you the mood.

It is not easy at all to follow the story: it comes from a very different culture, with its own rhythms, its own poetry, its own logical connections. For us it is like floating in plain paradox.

For those who haven't seen it yet, think at the movies of Parajanov. It is not an easy movie, but if you overcome the difficulties, you'll get the incomparable beauty of the story.

There are moments that do not come often to us - we should be prepared for them. Encounter with love, with death. Death as the way to enter the great realm that we lost at birth.

And the granddaughter, learning this lesson of life on the way, along with us, who are watching the movie and follow her journey.

Great movie!

This tantalizing story concentrates on - and does it from the very different perspectives - being on the way, searching for the deepest meaning, passionately yearning to reach the goal which is at the same time universal and in every case slightly different: love, truth, spirituality - however You call it. And like so often in our lives we end up finding that the search itself has been this what we actually have been looking for. Don't let the surroundings confuse You, however magnificent they are. Those who take this movie as a kind of version of 1000 and one night completely miss the point; also because the old dervish mystical tradition is far from - and quite often even in conflict with - the convictions which are shared in the mainstream Arabian culture. For me it was a universal story about deepest passions which have been moving and still move the souls of humanity. I saw this movie in last November, but it's still haunting me

I came across this wonderful movie in a DVD shop in Basel and was attracted by the well designed DVD cover. I ordered the DVD from net and the Movie turned out one of the best movies I have ever seen where the visible indicates towards the even bigger invisible world.. and the outer images turn you joyfully inward. Sufism is a hidden mystic tradition and its secrets are well hidden. But in this movie if you are alert will be introduced to some of most beautiful dances and recitals. The music is uplifting and the photography simply beautiful.I congratulate the director of the movie for his courage and sense of beauty. In addition the movie is full of paraables and portrayal of desert which is ever so associated with Sufis. The temple in the sand and the Zikhr cereomony left me asking for more..

This is more than a film. It is a cinematic teaching tale. It can function on the level of that sort of Sufi contemplation device in which direct experience--through contemplation of a parable--is more important than preaching and didacticism. It is designed with careful artistry so that it is comprehended by the faculty of consciousness mystics call "the heart" rather then by the intellect. The Sufi (and Islamic)traditional saying "Die before you die" has never been so well conveyed. The central figures of Baba and Ishtar embodied by the actors are compelling to the point of beauty, with enough mystery and paradox that you will never be able to put your finger on precisely why, and in what way, you have been moved. But many, many people will be: what ever faith they practice, and even if they do not have one. This film will leave you with the powerful sense that the realm of spirit is the greater reality. -- Joe Martin

Although there are moments when the movie may seem to progress slowly; nonetheless it kept the audience at the cinema glued to their seats. I went to watch the movie twice. It did not attract huge audiences; which in great part may be due to its lack of adequate advertising; but those few who did come to see the movie were glued to their seats. The movie has two great features. One is the soul stirring choice of music and its perfect adaptation to the scenes. Secondly, the movie successfully achieves the difficult undertaking of introducing and explaining in graphic terms and with simple stories the almost exclusively Oriental world of mysticism. The setting might not reflect the physical or material reality of the East, but it definitely does add to the magic and facilitates the viewer's transit from the material world outside to the spiritual world within. Highly recommended.