Al-massir (1997)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Youssef Chahine

Writers:

Youssef Chahine (writer)
Khaled Youssef (writer)

Release Date:

16 October 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | History | Musical | Romance

Plot:

The story is set in the 12th century in Arab-ruled Spanish province Andalusia, where famed philosopher...

Plot Keywords:

Sect | Book Burning | Singer | Freedom | Reason

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Nour El-Sherif	...	Averroes (as Nour El Cherif)
Laila Eloui	...	Manuella
Mahmoud Hemida	...	Al Mansour, The Caliph (as Mahmoud Hemeida)
Safia El Emari	...	Averroes' Wife (as Safia El Emary)
Mohamed Mounir	...	The Bard
Khaled Nabawy	...	Nasser, The Crown Prince (as Khaled El Nabaoui)
Seif El Dine	...	The Caliph's Brother (as Seif Abdel Rahman)
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

Also Known As:

Destiny (USA)
El maseer (alternative transliteration)
Le destin (France)

Runtime:

135 min

Country:

France | Egypt

Language:

French | Arabic

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | Portugal:M/12

Company:

France 2 Cinéma

Quotes:

Caliph's brother: Thoughts have wings. No one can prevent them from flying.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Humbert Balsan, producteur rebelle (2006) (TV)

"Destiny" -- a pushy-pushy review ...

Mr. Chahine is masterful and downright crafty in pushing forward his message for cosmopolitan rationality vs. parochial fanaticism: Starting from a telegraphed overview of historical events, ideological currents and characters from the two-century period (XI-XII) in Andalusia that saw a wave of North-African fundamentalist mercenary Berbers wrestle power away from the weakened remnants of the enlightened Umayyad dynasty, he made a deceivingly simple parable using old-time Hollywood formats and entertainment values à la `Thief of Baghdad.' Chahine is thus successfully addressing matters of dense philosophical and political import under the guise of an almost infantile entertainment. The plot, furthermore, echoes `Fahrenheit 451' and its overall ideological stance is reminiscent of ‘A Man for All Seasons.' On the other hand, seeing its `musical' values as a bow to Hollywood is merely scratching at the surface, since it must be kept in mind that poetry in song – the obsessive discipline of enlightened Islam – was the most efficient vehicle for the birth and expansion of all values appropriated by Christian Western (read, European) civilization. Hence, the formal solution signifies much more than the surface. On the other hand, Chahine ties the past quite neatly -- through his storytelling and filmmaking craft -- with current world events and thought convolutions. For example, the stabbing of the bard character in Destiny couldn't be less than a painful fictionalization of the fundamentalist attack on the contemporary Egyptian novelist Mafouz. El Massir is an important piece of work, and I think everyone who is at all concerned or curious about the nature of the global forces at work today should take a long and detained look at it. This film carries a hefty punch and – what's best -- you can barely feel it, as the masterful handling of the narrative, in terms of nothing but an entertaining parable, lets the dense message flow without any pretensions of `avant-garde' stylist truculence. M