Road To Mecca

Had the privilege of watching "Road To Mecca" screened at the Singapore International Film Festival over the weekend. I had no prior expectation of the movie before this screening but ended up pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the film. The director is the traveller himself in this movie.

The movie gives you a raw yet honest perspective on the director's overland trip to Mecca - as opposed to the journey all of us would have undertaken by flight. It gives you a personal insight to all the sights, sounds and smells of the places which he journeyed on his way to his intended destination. The beauty of this movie is in its 'unpolished' product. For example, the director began his journey with as pure an intention which he could possibly muster - but through that screening, one was left with a gnawing impression that somewhere along his journey, that intention may have been slightly forgotten, a fact which was alluded to by the director himself in the movie. And he is not to be blamed for that - particularly when one begins to savour one's journey and is exposed to a myriad of new magical experiences across the lands. That 'weakness', if at all, is the charm of this travellogue.

One fact which shines through for me is the director's mannered sense of humour in the way he dealt with the various situations that presented before him. It is almost endearing for most of the audience who had their first introduction to the director, the person. And that sense of humour enable us to partake our visual journey on that day more bearable and more enjoyable. We are able to be at ease and savour, alongside the director, the taste of his travels, without any judgment.

There were many lessons left unsaid by the time I left the cinema. As far as I am concerned, that trip was the director's trip to his personal mecca, although he did not eventually reach Mecca to perform his pilgrimage. A pilgrimage, in its widest sense, is a physical and spiritual journey one undertakes which transforms oneself to a better person - in all his consciousness of his existence. And through all those travels which he undertook, the experiences which he undergone, the people whom he met, the sharing of himself and understanding of others, and many more - is in itself, a pilgrimage. It will be as significant as how he makes it to be - and that sets him apart from us, who have not undertaken this journey in the way which he did.

I pray that the director sees that trip as it is, and not lament about what could have been. Since that trip is now over, it may have been The Almighty's plan for a bigger lesson for all of us. It was beautiful.