In the 12th century's Andalusia lives Ibn Rushd a prominent Islamic philosopher with his wife Zeinab and daughter Salma. The principality is ruled by Khalifa ElMansour who has two sons, ElNasser, an intellectual that likes Ibn Rush and is in love with his daughter Salma. The younger son Abdallah is more into dancing and poetry, spending most of his times with the gypsy family and getting the daughter pregnant. The Khalifa is depending on the extremists to build his army granting them more power which they use to combat artists and philosophers. The extremists succeed in recruiting Abd Allah and train him to kill his father. Events go on where Marawan, the gypsy singer, is killed and Ibn Rushd's books are burnt. Adapted from the real life of Ibn Rushd AlMasir is Chahine's statement against extremism.
Direction
Chahine stages political debates like musical numbers—chaotic, gorgeous, terrifying.
Score
Flamenco meets Arabic poetry; the soundtrack is a character with a knife.
Acting
Nour El-Sherif radiates stubborn, doomed intellectual dignity.
Director
Youssef Chahine
Nour El-Sherif
Averroes/Ibn Rushd
Hani Salama
Abdallah
Rogena
Salma
Layla Olwy
Manuella/Gypsy Woman
Mahmoud Hemida
Al Mansour, The Caliph
Safia ElEmary
Averroes' Wife/Ibn Rushd's wife
Mohamed Mounir
Marwan/Poet
Khaled El Nabawy
Nasser, The Crown Prince
Seif Abdelrahman
Caliph's Brother
Ahmed Fouad Selim
Cheikh Riad
Faris Rahoma
Youssef
Ahmed Mokhtar
Badr
Sherifa Maher
Manuella's Mother
Fayeq Azab
Al-Razi
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Chahine explicitly made this as a direct response to Egypt's rising Islamist violence in the 1990s—it's not subtle allegory, it's a scream.
The real Ibn Rushd's works survived in Hebrew and Latin translations, influencing Thomas Aquinas—his 'destruction' was temporary, which the film quietly celebrates.
EG
