My colleague in Philosophy, Tamara Albertini (specialist in
Renaissance and Islamic philosophies), has seen the film and sent me the
following evaluation at my request:
I am so glad to speak on behalf of Chahine's movie. I have seen it at
the Academy Theater here in Honolulu and I have found it quite
convincing.
I think the historic setting is right, the atmosphere is well rendered,
and, what matters most, the difficult positions of Ibn Roshd and the
Khalif are accurately portrayed. The actual philosophy of Ibn Roshd is
not
much of an issue, which is one of the few weak points. It seems to me,
however, that Chahine can get away with that. His message is
mainly political, i.e. showing how easily young people can be
manipulated
and made to become fundamentalists. One could also point at a linguistic
issue. The actors speak a mixture of Moroccan and Egyptian
dialect, which might be a problem for purists, but that should not
bother
an American audience.
In sum, I do recommend this movie for class use. I think that it can
generate very good discussions.
I hope this helps!
Tamara
--
Dr. Karen Jolly
Associate Professor, History
University of Hawai`i at Manoa
[log in to unmask]
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~kjolly
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