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Le Grand Voyage (2004)

Director: Ismael Ferroukhi

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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 2005-10-11 12:47:06

Time Out London Issue 1834: October 12-19 2005