Image courtesy of SK Films
Imagine traveling 5,000 miles across barren deserts for 18 months, battling dangerous elements and dangerous people, in order to fulfill a sacred religious duty. It’s an experience many of us won’t have, but Journey to Mecca: In the footsteps of Ibn Battuta at the St. Louis Science Center’s OMNIMAX theater allows viewers the chance to see the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, or hajj, for the first time on the IMAX screen.
The film, directed by IMAX veteran Bruce Neibaur, focuses on 14th-century traveler and scholar Ibn Battuta’s spiritual journey from North Africa to the Middle East. Narrated by Sir Ben Kingsley, documentary footage of the 2007 hajj bookends Battuta’s story to show how Islam's rituals haven’t changed over the last 1,400 years.
One thing that has changed is the scenery surrounding the Ka’bah, the site of the hajj’s first rite and the holiest place in Islam. Gone is the empty skyline and middle-of-nowhere presence of the desert of Battuta’s time; now, it’s replaced with endless 20th-century buildings haphazardly arranged (with stadium lighting) and looming over the courtyard surrounding the Ka’bah. The contrast of antiquity and modernity is staggering on the IMAX screen, and the wide shots of the desert’s landscape are no less impressive.
Similar to other IMAX features, you’ll feel like you are part of Battuta’s journey to Mecca, a notion the filmmakers hoped would help viewers better understand a world often only seen through a political lens.This year, hajj falls between November 14-18, so you’ll have the opportunity to watch this film simultaneously as three million Muslims embark on their pilgrimage.
At 45 minutes, the film is short enough to keep viewers’ attention, and does a good job of informing those unfamiliar with the Islamic rituals without being monotonous. Also, it’s a nice introduction of a historic figure who is obscure in the West, but is the equivalent of Marco Polo figure in the Middle East. And while his name might not evoke a round of swimming pool tag, Battuta nevertheless is one of history’s greatest travelers. His travelogue, The Rihla, is more than 1,000 pages long and documents his 30 years of travel to places such as India, China, North Africa and Spain. Historians estimate that he trekked 75,000 miles, compared to Polo’s 25,000 miles. Perhaps most significant is how Battuta’s travelogue is one of the few sources left to give scholars an intimate look at life during Islam’s golden age.
Journey to Mecca: In the footsteps of Ibn Battuta opens Friday, October 7, at the St. Louis Science Center and runs through February. Showtimes are everyday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., with no morning show on Sundays. For more information, go to journeytomeccagiantscreen.com.
