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In the shifting sands of the Middle East, the only constants are faith and fables. They coexisted quite happily before the rise of fundamentalism, and they find a soulful commonality in Nacer Khemir's nostalgia-tinged Bab'Aziz: The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul. The Tunisian filmmaker has conjured a unique and uniquely graceful blend of fairy-tale idealism and street-level realism that unfolds as a casual chain of stories. A blind elder named Bab'Aziz, walking to a mystical gathering of dervishes in the desert with his granddaughter, starts the ball rolling with the tale of a wealthy prince who unexpectedly becomes obsessed with the meaning of life. The prince's existential journey overlaps with less rarefied pursuits — of revenge, of a vanished lover — propelling men whom Bab'Aziz and his ward encounter along the way. Poetry, music, and prayer fill the soundtrack of this seductive road movie with no discernible road, as Bab'Aziz offers wise lessons for anyone on the path of peace and self-knowledge.
April 4-11, 2008