Le Grand Voyage

Infobox_Film
name = Le Grand Voyage


caption = "Le Grand Voyage" film poster
writer = Ismaël Ferroukhi
starring = Nicolas Cazalé,
Mohamed Majd
director = Ismaël Ferroukhi
producer = Humbert Balsan
distributor = Pyramide Distribution
released = September 7, 2004
runtime = 108 min
language = Moroccan Arabic, French
budget =
imdb_id = 0361670

"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.

Plot

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. Réda, being the young Frenchman that he is, speaks only in French to his father, who is seen speaking only Arabic for the majority of the film. Later, when necessary, the father proves that he in fact speaks impeccable French; his choice to speak only Arabic to his son is therefore purposeful. Ferroukhi is quoted, saying, “It is intentional… he wants to teach his son the language.” Of Réda he says that he, “has lost touch with everything that binds him to his language and culture.” The director uses this language barrier as a vehicle to eventually unite the two. “He tries to reconnect to him…” [cite news|url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-34077097_ITM|accessdate=2007-01-01|title=An Interview with Filmmaker Ismaël Ferroukhi|work=World Literature Today|date= [2007-01-01\]

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." [cite news|url=http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,4120,1586109,00.html|accessdate=2007-04-04|title=The long and winding road|work=The Guardian|date=2005-10-07] .

Cast

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

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0361670|title=Le Grand Voyage