|
VANCITY THEATRE EXCLUSIVE
It's a long, hard road to Mecca, as Reda (Nicolas Cazalé), the youngest, French-born son of a devout Muslim finds out when he agrees to drive his father all the way to the holiest of Muslim cities. This is not a simple road trip, but a metaphorical journey from West to East, from innocence to experience.
After living in France for 30 years, the elderly father (Mohamed Majid) has decided it is time to make his pilgrimage. Father and son take to the road in a dilapidated car with one orange door. Dark and surly, with a sneer that might make Elvis wince, Reda is a typical French youth obsessed with girls and his mobile phone. As the pair begin their 3,000-mile journey, a trip that is fraught with would-be thieves, the lure of wine and women, and the perils of goats and hitchhikers, the cultural and generational gap between them is a virtual chasm.
Ismaël Ferroukhi's film has a strong feel for the rhythms of the road, the small pains and troubles of travelling. As the geographical and political landscapes change around them, Reda and his father navigate their own familial intricacies, and forge a new fragile form of communication.
Presented in 2004 at the Mostra of Venice in the Lion du Futur section, Le Grand Voyage won the “Luigi de Laurentiis” prize for best first film. It is the first feature length film by Ismael Ferrouhki, who received high regards for his short films: L’Expose which premiered at Cannes in 1993. He has also co-written the screenplay for Cedric Kahn’s first film Trop de bonheur (1994) as well as his last, Culpabiltie zero.
"And not only does this well-acted film successfully challenge cultural preconceptions of Islamic belief, but in the climactic scenes amidst the collective fervour of Mecca, it achieves an unexpected emotional intensity. "
— Tom Dawson, BBC
“4 Stars! Remarkable…The characters are compelling and completely realistic, the acting is first-rate, and many scenes… are breathtaking.”
—The San Francisco Chronicle
|
