This ambitious yarn is set in and around the city of Ninive (in today's Iraq), and at a time when writing was done in cuneiform on clay tablets, and the dominant god was called Anu - so, roughly 500 BC.
Hatifa is a slave girl, initially working in a quarry, from where she escapes to wander bare-footed in the desert. Collapsed from hunger and thirst, she (and the cute kitten Rana that travels with her from then on) is found by a caravan, where scholar and dream-teller Simsal takes care of her on the way to Ninive.
After a brief period of good living, she gets caught and transported back to the quarry for a reward. There she is spotted and bought by Greek slave trader Anaximandros and brought aboard a galley sailing for Ephesos. However, the ship is taken by pirates .. and ultimately, Hatifa finds out her real father, and real name.
For a children's adventure movie (cleared from age 6), this is a thrilling story with quite some production value - I liked the ships best. We are also informed about the legislation and economics of slavery (branding, death penalty for helping them escape, reward of 1 shekel silver for retrieving, selling price 3 shekels or better).. all in all, quite an impressive film. Thanks again to SuperIllu magazine which redistributed it with yesterday's edition :^)
Hatifa is a slave girl, initially working in a quarry, from where she escapes to wander bare-footed in the desert. Collapsed from hunger and thirst, she (and the cute kitten Rana that travels with her from then on) is found by a caravan, where scholar and dream-teller Simsal takes care of her on the way to Ninive.
After a brief period of good living, she gets caught and transported back to the quarry for a reward. There she is spotted and bought by Greek slave trader Anaximandros and brought aboard a galley sailing for Ephesos. However, the ship is taken by pirates .. and ultimately, Hatifa finds out her real father, and real name.
For a children's adventure movie (cleared from age 6), this is a thrilling story with quite some production value - I liked the ships best. We are also informed about the legislation and economics of slavery (branding, death penalty for helping them escape, reward of 1 shekel silver for retrieving, selling price 3 shekels or better).. all in all, quite an impressive film. Thanks again to SuperIllu magazine which redistributed it with yesterday's edition :^)
