MOVIES Part Three

Highly opinionated comments on movies that have some aspect of camels or desert. Continued from MOVIES Part One and MOVIES Part Two. You know you can click on those links, right?

The Sheltering Sky

Debra Winger and John Malkovich seek isolated places in the Sahara to find? avoid? remedy? their hollow relationship. I never liked Malkovich but he's bearable here, till he gets typhoid and takes far too long to die. She ‒ restless, dazed, possibly nuts ‒ wanders off, meets a camel caravan and one mishap after another. Appropriately acclaimed for its gorgeous cinematography, it's Bertolucci-directed, but Paul Bowles' aimless existentialism and characters leave me cold. Partially filmed in several Morocco locations.

Babel

OK, 'fessing up. Only watched the one-third (or so) that takes place in Morocco (and actually filmed there in studios I visited in 2017). A sad, harrowing tale of little boys playing with a gun and how far the consequences reach — in a random universe, we all have a degree of connection to everyone else. Brad Pitt does a more than creditable job; it was agony watching/waiting for Cate Blanchett to die.

Sahara

Pure treasure hunting good fun, and camels! Mathew McConaughey performs as Clive Cussler's action hero Dirk Pitt in an improbable story of a search for a missing Civil War-era iron battleship, supposedly sunk upriver in what would be Mali(!). Great camaraderie interaction with supporting actor Steve Zahn. Penelope Cruz plays the trusting wench, albeit a humanitarian doctor; no one dies except the bad guys. Yes, some filming in Morocco, more in Spain, 2005.

Sand and Sorrow

George Clooney's activist side narrates (and produced) this documentary of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur - a province in Sudan - largely being ignored by the rest of the world. Government-directed genocide of "non-Arab" civilians, millions of people still displaced and unsafe even years after the doc was made (2007). Killing and burning. Very difficult to watch.

P.S. I loved you once, George, but I can't forgive you for the Nescafé ads. 

The Story of the Weeping Camel

Oh — what a slice of life in rural Mongolia! Absolutely enchanting. This 2003 docudrama is available online. Of course it's the Gobi desert where, in the midst of their daily life, a nomad family tries to save a baby camel rejected by its mother. The effort requires special attention with traditional customs and music. Deeply moving and joyful.

Letters from Baghdad

A documentary of 2016, Gertrude Bell's letters speak to her adventures and British service in Arabia prior to and during the First World War. As much or more than the more celebrated T.E. Lawrence, Bell helped shape Middle East alliances and policies. Less attention is paid to her archaeological accomplishments and her founding of the renowned Baghdad Museum. Produced and voiced by Tilda Swinton as Bell, the film is rich with archival footage and Bell's own photographs, with contemporary commentary from the many historical figures she met or worked with. Extremely well done.

The Little Prince

Aside from unable to grasp the wispy little voices of child characters (uneven sound?) half the time, I could not make much sense of it. Maybe because it's so French? Same trouble with the book, moi, long ago. This new adaptation (2015) includes a darling little girl who, in searching for the Little Prince, sees the worst of grown-up behaviour, assisted by the incredibly ugly but kind Aviator. The Sahara makes a brief appearance along with an enigmatic fox and a snake. The Little Prince himself did not impress me. See with your heart seems to be the message, but it's enough to know that the twinkling of stars means happy laughter.

Cairo Time

A romantic side of Egypt, of Cairo (2009). Juliet arrives in the city to meet her husband who remains absent in Gaza until the end of the film. Husband's good friend Tareq escorts Juliet in sightseeing, a mutual attraction building. Ultimately, consummation is thwarted. Flimsy story, but the scenes of Cairo are wonderful, so many places I've been. ... I know he's acted in Star Trek and Syriana and numerous films or stage productions, but why can't we see MORE of hunk Alexander Siddig who played Tareq?!

Keep those movies coming ...

© 2019 Brenda Dougall Merriman

Matmata, Tunisia 2012

~~ Star Wars Alert: Tatooine (Tataouine) is a real place. 

It is a province and a town in Tunisia. 

Matmata is a small town at its north end. ~~

Salt flats, northern Sahara

The little Berber town of Matmata has a lifestyle unto itself. Here be troglodytes. We have driven east from Douz in a beautiful amber light, sun obscured by the sand haze in the air. As we pass away from desert and salt flats the terrain becomes hillier, we begin to see man-made entrances to caves dotting the hillsides. Or are they caves? Most homes are like circular craters, dug into the ground, the central portion open to the sky, with rooms carved out of the surrounding sandstone. Light from the centre illuminates the interiors that have no windows, just doorways.

 On the town outskirts our van stops at the side of the road and we are about to find out what it's like to live underground. Only the whitewashed exterior and a few pots mark the door. A long dark entrance leads to the courtyard; we pass a man who's been having a nap on a small bed along the narrow entry lined with some household utensils and the odd bit of clothing.

Roadside homes are often prepared to receive spontaneous passing visitors; it's a way to supplement their meagre incomes. It's almost a cottage industry, you might say, but the native hospitality has been eroded by their exposure as (reluctant) objects of curiosity. Our guide Samy gives us little advance information of what to expect, acting as the cheerful host. I'm not at all sure he, being from a different, urban part of the country, is even conscious of the dwellers' sensitivities.

  

The courtyard is sunny (it's still morning and the day is hot), deserted, and shows half a dozen doorways. A pet called a gundi, of guinea-pig resemblance, is in a cage. Oh ... a small girl about six or seven years old peeks around a doorway that leads to a yard where an outhouse can be seen. So this home is not a perfect crater. A family member will undoubtedly be out somewhere tending the goat flock. We gawk around, encouraged by Samy to investigate the rooms. It seems quite intrusive; most of us feel diffident.

Several rooms have beds arranged with colourful, patterned hangings and blankets. The clothing hanging on wall pegs is spare. The kitchen has something like a primus stove, some pans, and many clay pots for storage. It's hot as hades in there as if someone was recently cooking. Normally the temperature here would be cooler than up on ground level.  

The little girl is now hanging out in the courtyard looking bored. Suddenly, or so it seems, an elderly woman in black dress appears seated in the courtyard.

Since she looks posed, we take turns being photographed with her (still feeling uncomfortable). Naturally she doesn't know any English and seems disinclined to engage in talk. But our companion Alice strikes a chord with her and they have some amiable exchanges. Instinctively we give donations for taking the photos, only half-understanding that it was expected.

Samy directs us to the living room where a spread of pita, olive oil, and mint tea has been set out for us. A typical breakfast for the family. It was cooking the pita that likely sent the interior temperature shooting up. The woman does not appear again, so we serve ourselves, a sign (to me) that this must be a tiresome business for her. However the little girl does join us, looking annoyed and slightly sullen; no doubt her presence was ordered to add more atmosphere.

She is sitting apart not far from me. My companion found the perfect recipient for the bag of jujubes she'd carried all the way from Canada. The kid's eyes light up and she actually smiles. Earlier we were reminded that it was Remembrance Day. It is quite touching when over this little feast, someone starts the poem "In Flanders Field" and we all recite as best we can.

Onward as lunch time approaches, into the town of Matmata. Here, an obligatory visit to a small underground hotel, one of several in the town, based on the circular pit concept. We peer at it from above; we enter its courtyard from below for a different view. This hotel, Sidi Driss, is billed (and immortalized) as "home to Luke Skywalker" ― yes, one of Tunisia's many Star Wars locations. You too can sleep here. And so even the dullest of us (not mentioning my name) finally gets the long-lasting impact of filming in this area. We are not shown an actual bedroom, but a group of tourists is having a fine time lunching in the underground dining room off the courtyard.

Then to a "regular" hotel for our lunch ― Hotel Matmata is perhaps the only other hotel open in off-season ― an old and interesting place needing attention to maintenance. The cool, vast marble lobby is lovely. Lunch is a small but nice buffet lacking, very oddly, any sweets; no complaints about apples and oranges but not typical for desserts here. One has the sense everywhere of cutting corners.

 A stuffed goat kid is part of the dining room decor. One of the courtyards has molded clay depictions of a woman making pita bread, a large camel with a broken tail. Despite its rundown condition the place has much more charm than our occasional plush, generic hotels.

Star Wars probably started a new tourist invasion in the 1980s and keen fans still come to look. The location sets generally survive in good order for visitors ― others are west of here in Douz and near Tozeur. However, the latest Star Wars movie (The Force Awakens) did not film here.[1] Tourist boom time for this region may be over. Long known as a smugglers' route, extremist activities have been taking advantage of its relative isolation.

[1] Conor McCormick-Cavanagh, "Tunisia's Star Wars Fans Battle to Bring the Force Home," Middle East Eye (http://www.middleeasteye.net/in-depth/features/tunisia-has-potential-establish-itself-star-wars-fan-paradise-599714959 : accessed 28 December 2015).

© 2016 Brenda Dougall Merriman