Destiny (1997) is an Egyptian film co-written and directed by Youssef Chahine. It stars Nour El-Sherif as Averroes, a famous Muslim philosopher in the 12th Century.
The movie has one of the grimmest beginnings I've ever seen. It never gets quite that grim again, but the first few minutes are hard to sit through.
After that, the story is interesting, if hard to understand. The philosopher Averroes was a historical figure. He sometimes lived in North Africa, and sometimes in Andalusia. (Nour El-Sherif is an excellent actor, and he makes us believe in Averroes as a real human being, and not just as a philosopher on a pedestal.)
Averroes translated the works of Aristotle into Arabic, and then he wrote commentaries about them. It's possible that these works would have been lost if Averroes had not undertaken this immense intellectual task.
The basic plot of the story circles around the interaction of Averroes with the Caliph, and the Caliph's brother and sons. I have to admit that I got the sense of who was doing what to whom, but I couldn't always understand the details.
This movie is worth seeing because it's colorful, well-acted, and shows us events about which many of us know very little. It has a solid IMDb rating of 7.3, and I recommend it. It will work better on the large screen.
We were able to see it at Rochester's wonderful Dryden Theatre where it was shown--free--as part of a series entitled Salam. The series is being presented to commemorate the lives of the victims of the atrocities at the Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre in New Zealand, and in solidarity with Muslim people.
The series was organized by the Eastman Museum in partnership with the Islamic Center of Rochester. I commend both institutions for using artistic works to combat and decry hatred.
The movie has one of the grimmest beginnings I've ever seen. It never gets quite that grim again, but the first few minutes are hard to sit through.
After that, the story is interesting, if hard to understand. The philosopher Averroes was a historical figure. He sometimes lived in North Africa, and sometimes in Andalusia. (Nour El-Sherif is an excellent actor, and he makes us believe in Averroes as a real human being, and not just as a philosopher on a pedestal.)
Averroes translated the works of Aristotle into Arabic, and then he wrote commentaries about them. It's possible that these works would have been lost if Averroes had not undertaken this immense intellectual task.
The basic plot of the story circles around the interaction of Averroes with the Caliph, and the Caliph's brother and sons. I have to admit that I got the sense of who was doing what to whom, but I couldn't always understand the details.
This movie is worth seeing because it's colorful, well-acted, and shows us events about which many of us know very little. It has a solid IMDb rating of 7.3, and I recommend it. It will work better on the large screen.
We were able to see it at Rochester's wonderful Dryden Theatre where it was shown--free--as part of a series entitled Salam. The series is being presented to commemorate the lives of the victims of the atrocities at the Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre in New Zealand, and in solidarity with Muslim people.
The series was organized by the Eastman Museum in partnership with the Islamic Center of Rochester. I commend both institutions for using artistic works to combat and decry hatred.