Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Le Grand Voyage (2004)

Average user rating

No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Is St Paul the patron saint of road movies? Despite having a sequence set on the road to Damascus, the character reassessment in Ismaël Ferroukhi’s debut is more drip-drip than thunderbolt, and none the worse for that. Fully naturalised second-generation French Moroccan Reda (Nicolas Cazalé) is obliged to forsake critical exam retakes to drive his father (Mohamed Majd) 6,000 miles to Mecca for the Hajj – a journey during which the two men’s cultural and generational divide is compounded by the familiar gripes of being stuck in a car with a family member.Their semi-estrangement is based on simple enough terms (‘you may know how to read and write, but you know nothing about life,’ the unnamed father snaps) but trite opposition is avoided: each is stubborn yet sympathetic in his frustrations, they just speak different languages – literally. The film’s linguistic shifts are among its subtlest plays on strained communication: the father’s use of Arabic initially sets him apart but as they cross through Europe into Asia – via Serbia, Turkey and Syria to Saudi – the balance tilts and by journey’s end Reda is the one reduced to infantile dependence. Picture-postcard establishing shots aside, there’s little sightseeing along the way (‘you think we’re tourists?’ grunts dad); comparably, the scenes of the Hajj itself, including unprecedented feature footage from within Mecca, is remarkable but uningratiating – neither the ethos nor the minutiae of the pilgrimage are much unpacked. Despite a couple of schematic touches (Reda’s unseen French girlfriend, the over-neat climax), Ferroukhi’s faith in small gestures and silences makes for a touching, plausible trip.

Author: BW

Time Out London Issue 1834: October 12-19 2005

Email Tweet Share