Le Grand Voyage - Movie Review Example

Film 5: Le Grand Voyage (characterization)

The film starts in a French city with a Muslim father and son set to travel across Europe to Mecca to make a pilgrimage. Reda, the son is driving his father and clearly does not have any interest in Islam. He is more comfortable with his French identity, not so much his Muslim side. Reda and his father are clearly very different from each other as Muslims and they hardly have any common grounds. They also find it difficult to talk with each other. They pick up Muslim hitchhiker Mustapha in their journey, one who was more spiritual and less ritualistic in his religion. There is a contrast presented between Reda’s father’s practice of his religion and that of Mustapha’s approach towards Islam. Reda who is very much accustomed to his father’s approach to his religion believes that their religiosity also requires abstinence, and is surprised when, at one point, Mustapha offers Reda beer. Mustapha then tells Reda that religious faith is based on personal beliefs, not so much the protection of rituals. Through the different characters in the story, different Muslim identities emerge, and as a result, the Muslim stereotypes are challenged. Reda and his father present varying attitudes towards the pilgrimage with Reda believing that he is simply doing his obligation to his father, not to his religion. His father, on the other hand, believes the journey to be part of his desire to gain spiritual purification. During a snowstorm, the father explains that it was best to take time during the journey in order to eventually be mentally ready to arrive at their destination for his pilgrimage. The father expects some obstacles along the way and that he would face these as they would come their way. The journey still is a vacation for the father and son, a time where their normal lives are suspended, also a time where they would empty or vacate their regular activities. For Reda, he intends to fill the journey with experiences, and for his father, he intends to gain spirituality along the way. These contrasting qualities and goals for these characters very much indicate the generation gap for the father and son. The father is very disapproving of his son’s attitudes and indifference to Islam. He believes that he still has much to teach his youngest son, and the journey was an opportunity for him to teach his son about Islam. During the course of their journey, the father refuses does not want to speak French with Reda, even if he is actually very fluent in the language. He instead chooses to speak Arabic even when Reda is not fluent in the language. The father believes that French is not an intimate and formal language, one which he would use when he would be speaking to strangers or government officials. The father’s refusal to speak in French with Reda may imply a distancing with his son, and to some extent, his wanting to speak Arabic with Reda is actually part of his desire to have a closer relationship with his son.

The film is very much obvious in showing the break in Reda and his father’s relationship. The father never has a scene with his son when Reda is speaking with his girlfriend, a girlfriend which his father does not know. When the father is praying, Reda is also not seen in the scene. The father knows so little details about his son’s private life with and in the same way, Reda does not engage much in religious discussions with his father. The father on the other hand does not understand why his son does not practice and support his faith. Therein is seen a major generation gap between father and son.

There are numerous arguments between father and son due to the lack of common qualities. At one point, a drunk Reda engages in casual intercourse with a dancer from a bar, enraging his father who really feels that Reda is disrespecting the essence and the purpose of their journey. The father is somewhat appeased only when Reda asks if forgiveness is also part of the Islam faith. At another instance, father and son disagree when Reda acknowledges that they do not have enough money and objects to his father giving money to a beggar. The father believes that giving money to a beggar is part of his religious faith and it would actually mean more when it is given when a person also has limited funds.

Reda wakes up at one point in the car and sees the picture of Lisa on his dashboard. The scene then shifts to his father nodding in approval at Reda. The father’s actions relates to signs of affection and approval for Reda. This is very much in contrast to how his father has previously behaved throughout the journey. A final scene shows Reda giving alms to a beggar after his father’s death. This is most likely in tribute to his father also giving alms to a beggar earlier in the film. In the ending scene, Reda’s actions show how he has accepted his father’s actions. At the end of the journey, both characters have earned maturity, accommodating their own preferences and principles, even with their ever-present differences. In so many ways, the characters are very distinct in providing the traditional and the modern approach to religion and to socio-cultural practices. The son is very much modern in his beliefs and in his practices and to a certain extent also scorns his father’s beliefs. He nevertheless tolerates it out of deference to his father.

The movie highlights the drama which emerges when religion and other styles of spirituality clash with each other. Although the characters were together throughout their journey, each was alone in his pilgrimage. The father is seen finally praying in Mecca and Reda is writing his girlfriend’s name in the sand. They each find their tranquillity in their relationships, one with his faith and the other in his love life.