Customer Reviews

Bab'aziz: The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bab Aziz is a feast for the eyes, the ears, and most of all the heart. A small girl follows her elderly grandfather out into the desert of the soul in search of a gathering of dervishes, and what a gathering it is! But getting there, like life itself, is the transformative part, without which the arriving itself can never happen. This tale within a tale within a tale is sure to delight fans of Sufism, mysticism, great epic tales, and really good music. I saw this film four times the first week it was in theaters. Chances are, a lot of DVD viewers will view and re-view this enchanting visual epiphany often.

"Bab Aziz: The Price Who Contemplated His Soul" is a mix of many stories ...some of which I still wonder why they are there. I love the basic story of the blind grandfather and his granddaughter and the teaching of faith and the beauty of death. The poem...or song..."Arise O day, the atoms are dancing in molecular esctasy. Come my love-let us go join with them. " is worth watching the movie. It is mind expanding to see how many ways people have to worship (sufism, mysticism etc.)

Bab'aziz had been so highly recommended to me by so many people that I fully expected to be disappointed. How could it be that good? But to my astonishment, it was and is that good. It works on so many levels. And repeated viewings bring further understanding, further "Oh!" moments, as previously overlooked meanings and linkages become clear. (Don't worry about missing them the first or second time; Bab'aziz will still be engrossing and memorable, with no feeling of having missed anything. The subsequent "Oh! moments are simply bonuses.) This most recent purchase of Bab'aziz was for a gift. I am confident of the reception my gift will receive.

The film and the music are both very good, but when all is said and done the music is the best. I would give it four and a half, as some of the acting is a bit stiff, but really, I couldn't bear to give it only four stars. It's a visual feast, it's movingly beautiful, gentle and subtle. It's understated, and not in-your-face spiritual messaging, which can be so irritating. It's like "this is what it is". No high drama.

Too bad the audio CD is so expensive (as of March 2009, it was $61, no clue why). I would buy it in a heartbeat at the regular price. anitaroy@gmail.com.

Great movie! I recommend it to anybody interested in Sufism and spirituality.Watch it more than once,full of symbols and deep meaning.

I watched tis movie on a blizzard day, the perfect day for a movie like this. From the beginning you are transported to another place, time and exotic surroundings... there are no words to describe the feelings that this movie provoked in me.
The whole story is a sweet one, the relationship between grandpa and the girl is simply adorable, the tales are magic and full of colours and arabic sounds and wonders, the music is great and the dances are amazing, never saw an old man dancing like this.
Beautiful, beautiful film. I also watched the extras, the interview with Nacer in French is very moving and deep, he is right in all he is saying, the best way to express himself (his deep feelings) is through films and boy did he do a great job!
Highly recommended, please watch with an open heart, it's simply sublime.
Enjoy this movie!

Even tho the blind, aged Dervish doesn't know the way as he journeys with his granddaugther thru the desert to the Dervish gathering, he has his faith to guide him. He is wise and at one with the world. And he must make this pilgrimage. We all do. As we will learn at the end.

Like "The Arabian Nights", this incorporates other stories within the main one -- of people on private quests. While the stories are very dramatic, they are subtly explored in vague and dreamlike ways -- like a Sufi tale.

This movie is more than that, however. It's also a sensory experience. This is an unbelievably beautiful film. Of desertscape. Of buildings and vibrant artifacts. Of haunting music and poetry.

While the Tunisia-born writer/director Nacer Khemi may be a lost soul, torn between his present life in France and his Arabic background, and anguished by the present-day turmoil of the Islamic world, he has sublimated his painful, personal quest into a film of great beauty.

It comes unexpectedly, the gazelle .
And the prince sees it. A gazelle, beautiful, magical and so out of the mundane world appears for a fleeting moment. In that magical moment, the prince suddenly and silently bursts from his old shell only to bloom toward love and oneness.
How do you put love, surrender, a journey, discovery, acceptance and mystery in a movie? How does scenes, moments, words and music touch your soul and remind you, an angel has put their finger under your lips? That you contain all answers but each answer comes to you when you are ready?
As a Sufi saying goes,"there are many paths, but only one destination."
How does a poem turn into a movie?
This movie is a ray of rapture; rapture of lovers of God.
Even in the sandy dessert, you feel, see and smell the garden of love.
in the frail steps of an old dervish, in the swift restless steps of a little girl, in the passionate singing of the dervishes, in the search for loved ones, love is the invisible, fragile, beautiful and yet strong force that covers the whole movie like a blanket woven with mystical beauty.
How could death be the ending of something that has no beginning, Baba aziz asks.
He is ready for continuing his journey. And that's another step in surrender. Surrender to the great mystery.

This is a very good movie and I recommend watching it. It is about Sufism with a lot of colors and music.

This movie is so breathtaking, subtle, symbolic, beautiful, spiritual that I am having difficulty writing this. Nothing I could say does this movie justice.

I look at the symbolism woven throughout; which itself dances like a dervish, and my mind recognizes the references; and the sheer genius of it's composition. But my heart reacts in a way no intellectual concept could label or classify. Every moment there is another unfolding,,,,

This movie is what Islam is REALLY about. It is a Sufi tale; the beauty of Islam taken to its furthest reaches. This movie takes you into the realm where one sees with one's heart, by the Light of God. Eyes are useless there.

I can't write anymore,,, There is nothing more to say.