Le Grand Voyage

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Le Grand Voyage

Le Grand Voyage film poster
Directed by Ismaël Ferroukhi
Produced by Humbert Balsan
Written by Ismaël Ferroukhi
Starring Nicolas Cazalé,
Mohamed Majd
Distributed by Pyramide Distribution
Release date(s) September 7, 2004
Running time 108 min
Language Arabic, French
IMDb profile

Le Grand Voyage is a 2004 film written and directed by Ismaël Ferroukhi. The film portrays the relationship between father and son as both embark on a religious pilgrimage trip by car. It was shown at the 2004 Toronto and Venice International Film Festivals.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Réda is a French-Moroccan teenager due to sit for Baccalauréat. When his devout father asks Réda to accompany him on a pilgrimage to Mecca, he reluctantly agrees. However, the father insists that they travel by car. As both embark on a road trip thousands of kilometres away from southern France, the once-icy father-and-son relationship starts to thaw as both gradually come to know each other.

Along the way, the two meet several interesting characters. The son learns about Islam and why his father thought it would be preferable to make the pilgrimage by car rather than by airplane.

The route taken by the father and son goes from France through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, and Jordan before reaching Saudi Arabia. According to the Internet Movie Database, the film was actually shot in some of these countries, namely France, Slovenia, Bulgaria, and Turkey. Most scenes that were set in the middle east were shot in Morocco. However, some scenes involving the two principal actors were actually shot in Mecca. While the Saudi Arabian government had previously permitted documentary crews to shoot in Mecca, this was the first fiction feature permitted to shoot during the Hajj. The film's director, Ismaël Ferroukhi, said that while shooting in Mecca, "no one looked at the camera; people didn't even seem to see the crew -- they're in another world."[1]

It is revealed that the father dies while performing the pilgrimage.

[edit] Cast

  • Nicolas Cazalé – Réda
  • Mohamed Majd – The Father
  • Jacky Nercessian – Mustapha
  • Ghina Ognianova – The old woman
  • Kamel Belghazi – Khalid
  • Atik Mohamed – Le pélerin Ahmad

[edit] References

  1. ^ "The long and winding road", The Guardian, 2005-10-07. Retrieved on April 4, 2007.

[edit] External links

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