An old blind dervish walks into open sand with his granddaughter's hand in his, carrying no map and no doubt. Nacer Khemir's Bab'Aziz - The Prince That Contemplated His Soul, a 2005 drama, turns that walk into a slow, image-led journey.
What is Bab'Aziz - The Prince That Contemplated His Soul about?
Bab'Aziz is blind, elderly and entirely sure of his direction. Ishtar, the child beside him, is none of those things, and the desert gives her nothing to argue with. They are walking toward a gathering of dervishes said to be held once every thirty years, in a place that is never marked and never explained; those meant to reach it, the old man tells her, will be brought there. To keep the girl moving through long empty hours, he begins the tale named in the film's full title, the story of a prince who gave himself over to contemplating his own soul. Other travellers cross their path, each arriving with a story that folds back into the road ahead.
About the cast
The credited ensemble is led by Parviz Shahinkhou and Maryam Hamid, with Hossein Panahi, Nessim Khaloul, Mohamed Graiaa and Golshifteh Farahani also appearing. K-Time lists the cast in that order and does not assign performers to characters.
Context & significance
The film runs ninety-six minutes and is catalogued under Drama. It is an unusually broad co-production, with credits spanning the United Kingdom, Iran, Switzerland, Tunisia, Hungary, France and Germany. The dervish gathering at the centre of the story belongs to the Sufi devotional tradition of the wider region, and the film treats that tradition as setting rather than argument: the rituals, the singing and the wandering dervish are part of the world the characters move through. Khemir keeps the pace unhurried, letting landscape and recited verse carry as much as dialogue does.
Watching Bab'Aziz - The Prince That Contemplated His Soul on Ktime
Bab'Aziz - The Prince That Contemplated His Soul is available to watch on K-Time once you sign in to your account; this page is open to read without logging in. The catalogue does not flag a separate Persian dubbed track or Persian subtitle track for this title, so it is presented in its original form. The interface is built for Persian-speaking viewers abroad, with a Farsi-first experience across phone, browser and TV.