Destiny (1997)

The story is set in the 12th century in Arab-ruled Spanish province Andalusia, where famed philosopher Averroes is appointed grand judge by the caliph and his liberal court judgements are ... See full summary »

Director:

Youssef Chahine

Writers:

Youssef Chahine, Khaled Youssef

Stars:

Nour El-Sherif, Hani Salama, Mahmood Hemaidah

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nour El-Sherif	...	Averroes (as Nour El Cherif)
Hani Salama	...	Abdellah
Mahmood Hemaidah	...	Al Mansour, The Caliph (as Mahmoud Hemeida)
Layla Olwi
Safia El Emari	...	Averroes' Wife (as Safia El Emary)
Mohamed Mounir	...	The Bard
Khaled Nabawy	...	Nasser, The Crown Prince (as Khaled El Nabaoui)
Seif Abdelrahman	...	The Caliph's Brother (as Seif Abdel Rahman)
Abdalla Mahmoud	...	Borhan
Rogeena	...	Salma
Ahmed Fouad Selim	...	Cheikh Riad
Magdy Edris	...	Emir of the Sect (as Magdi Idris)
Ahmed Moukhtar	...	Bard
Sherifa Maher	...	Manuella's Mother
Rayek Azzab	...	El Razi

Storyline

The story is set in the 12th century in Arab-ruled Spanish province Andalusia, where famed philosopher Averroes is appointed grand judge by the caliph and his liberal court judgements are not liked by everyone. The caliph's political rivals, centered around the leader of a fanatical Islamic sect, force the caliph to send Averroes into exile, but his ideas keep on living thanks to his students.

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Plot Keywords:

caliph | andalusia | 12th century | sect | power lust | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | History | Musical | Romance

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Details

Country:

France Egypt

Language:

French Arabic

Release Date:

16 October 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Destiny

Filming Locations:

Saint-Gilles, Gard, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

France 2 Cinéma, MISR International Films, Ognon Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

135 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Official submission of Egypt for the 'Best Foreign Language Film' category of the 70th Academy Awards in 1998.

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Quotes

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

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Connections

Referenced in Out of Cordoba: Averroes and Maimonides in Their Time and Ours (2009)

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Soundtracks

Alli sotak
Performed by Mohamed Mounir

User Reviews

Al Massir, the Destiny of Ideas...

"The Ideas have Wings, you can never stop them from reaching the people".

That was Al Massir, or the Destiny of Youssef Chahine. After his previous movie "El Mohager", Chahine was taken to court by a fundamentalist lawyer who claimed that Chahine presented the prophet Joseph in this movie and this is something forbidden "To show prophets on the screen" by Al Azhar. The lawyer wanted the court to stop showing the movie on the Egyptian screens as well as its distribution outside Egypt.

Regardless of the final conclusion of the court, this case was the major motive behind the script of "Al Massir". Jo (Chahine) wanted to send a clear message to this people "You can never stop ideas from reaching the people, neither by burning the books (last scene of the movie), nor by forbidding movies, etc....' As usual, Averoes in this movie was Chahine himself. Trying to keep a good balance between what the history says about Averoes and what Chahine wanted to reflect on this character, he chose his characters to include all the contradictions he wanted to show. Politics, philosophy, love, integrism, etc.... they are everywhere. This idea of combining Islam with Terrorism bothers Chahine, that is why he started the movie with the french religious authorities burning a man who "Translated the books of this Averoes", so don't you be surprised when Muslims burn "Only" the books of Averoes. This analysis of Chahine is what really makes the movie special. It was expected after what happened to him in his last movie (as I said in the beginning), he could have just make it a good reason for a movie showing Muslims as Terrorists, an easy way to attract a Western spectator. But Jo chose the hard way to do it, showing that among all this terrorism, people are still "Life lovers" as mentioned by the first song. These people who just love their life were those fighting against terrorist - not with weapons - but with love. "We have to know first why they are doing this', said Averoes. Actors were really good specially Nour Elsherif, Mahmoud Hemeida, Khaled Elnabawi and Ahmed Fouad Selim. Mohamed Mounir is as usual the voice of Chahine singing "Sing out loud, we still can sing".