{"id":7035,"date":"2022-12-01T05:06:17","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T05:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/farefwd.com\/?p=7035"},"modified":"2022-12-17T00:54:29","modified_gmt":"2022-12-17T00:54:29","slug":"diverging-temporalities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/2022\/12\/01\/diverging-temporalities\/","title":{"rendered":"Diverging Temporalities"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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DIVERGING TEMPORALITIES<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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A graduating senior wrestles with themes of redemption and unanswered questions in Oliver Laxe\u2019s \u201creligious western.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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By Drew Whitley<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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If I had to simplify the film Mimosas<\/em>, directed by the Galician-Frenchman Oliver Laxe and written in darija <\/em>(the Moroccan dialect of Arabic), I would say that it is about the spiritual redemption of a rogue named Ahmed. But it is also so much more than that. Even my simplistic description doesn\u2019t match the summary you\u2019ll find on Rotten Tomatoes or Amazon. Purportedly, it\u2019s about a dying sheikh who wants to be buried with his ancestors in the ruins of the medieval Moroccan trade hub Sijilmasa, a city that hasn\u2019t been occupied since the fourteenth century. The film is subtitled La Voie de l\u2019Atlas<\/em>, or \u201cThe way to the Atlas,\u201d for this reason; the sheikh intends for his caravan to reach Sijilmasa by trekking through the Atlas Mountains. Ahmed and his companion Said (also a rogue) travel with them, hoping to find the right opportunity to loot the caravan and then make their escape. They have no real intention of reaching Sijilmasa\u2014they don\u2019t even know the way.<\/p>

The film\u2019s slow and meditative pace allows for many imposing shots of the rugged Atlas landscape, which has no roads and no real pass. From one breathtaking aerial view we see the caravan full of horses and saddlebags follow a narrow goat\u2019s path high above the valley, and it becomes clear to us that this landscape is treacherous and uncharted. The sheikh dies long before they arrive, but well after they have left the plains, and the rest of the caravan will go no further. They decide to turn back.<\/p>

All except for Ahmed and Said, that is. They found no loot in all the packs they could rummage, so clever Ahmed has an idea to obtain a bounty. He offers to take the sheikh\u2019s body to Sijilmasa for a price. Said plays along, claiming deceitfully to know the way, and they get the job. It\u2019s clear to us that they intend to dump the body and make off with their reward. Unfortunately for them, this turns out to be journey they\u2019re meant to undertake.<\/p>

At this point, a mysterious and very unexpected companion joins Ahmed and Said: a man named Mohamed Shakib ben Omar. Shakib shows up, in the middle of the mountains, unexplained, just after the caravan departs. He demands to help Ahmed and Said take the sheikh\u2019s body to Sijilmasa. It\u2019s unclear why the pair of rogues do not just admit to their deceit and shrug him off. It\u2019s unclear how Shakib manages to sway Ahmed and Said\u2014but he does. Persuaded, but not enthused, Ahmed forges ahead with his two companions and a corpse-laden donkey.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Perhaps those who struggle the most are those who may find the most humility.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Of the two rogues, Ahmed is clearly less comfortable with Shakib and taunts him frequently. Shakib always responds with a kind of mystical humility: for example, Ahmed calls Shakib \u201cpot face,\u201d and Shakib calls him \u201csheikh face\u201d back. He says, \u201cYou have the face of a sheikh.\u201d When Said instructs Shakib that Ahmed has never been to a mosque, Shakib just laughs.<\/p>

Ahmed tries to give up on their mission multiple times, even by trying to thwart it. One night he unties the donkey carrying the sheikh\u2019s body. The next morning, he feigns ignorance, refuses to look for it, and pleads with his companions to abandon the journey, all to no avail. Curiously, Said ends up much more committed to the goal. Perhaps he has too much respect for the dead to fail; he helps Shakib search while Ahmed sits and broods. They find the body and roam further into the mountains, hoping that they\u2019ll stumble onto the correct path\u2014or that God will reveal it for them.<\/p>

But, despite Said\u2019s change of heart and Shakib\u2019s best efforts, the journey is ultimately a failure. After many calamities and conflict with marauders, Ahmed gives up once and for all, presumably returning to civilization. In the scene, he wakes up dazed, bloodied, and confused next to a car in some (presumably Moroccan) town. Someone asks who he is, and another responds that he wanders the neighborhood. Shakib then rides into town on horseback, beckons Ahmed, and urges him to return, for they must finish what they have begun. Shakib says, \u201cLet\u2019s go, brother. Eternity is waiting for us.\u201d<\/p>

Inexplicably, Shakib now knows the way to Sijilmasa. When they arrive, they find the marauders who previously hampered their journey. They also find another companion, a young girl they had met after Ahmed untied the donkey. The marauders had captured her just before Ahmed abandoned the journey, but Shakib searched for her. Standing outside the gates of ruined city, Shakib encourages Ahmed to run in headlong to save the girl from torture and execution. Shakib has only a sword, and Ahmed is unarmed. This is Ahmed\u2019s final opportunity to face a challenge with sincerity, to shed and rise above the selfish deceit and grumbled discontent that has guided his behavior so far. How will they succeed? \u201cWith love,\u201d Shakib says. He rushes in, and Ahmed decides to follow.<\/p>

And there the story ends. The pair faces the marauders outmanned and outgunned. Their action feels foolish and doomed for failure. While we don\u2019t know what happens to Ahmed, Shakib, or their companion, the odds are against them. We do, however, get one more scene after Ahmed and Shakib start their charge: before the credits roll, the camera pans above an array of taxis storming across the desert under a dusk-red sky.<\/p>

It’s a cryptic ending, especially given that the film cuts back and forth between these scenes of rural and urban life. In fact, figuring out how to interpret this is one of the viewer\u2019s biggest challenges: is there a linear connection between the scenes, or are they divergent realities? All of Ahmed\u2019s scenes are rural\u2014in and around the Atlas Mountains, full of traditional clothing, lacking modern technology\u2014up until he deserts Shakib and wakes up next to the car. Ahmed could be wearing the same clothes in the urban scene, but there is no explanation as to how he got there. To make sense of this moment, some viewers have actually suggested that this urban scene is when Ahmed wakes up to his true reality. They explain that he is a drug addict and the whole journey has been just a dream. He may still be a rogue, they argue, but of a very different sort.<\/p>

I cannot refute this dream-interpretation because the rural and urban scenes are connected so loosely together, but it is irrelevant to the underlying message of the rural temporality. Remember that Shakib said Ahmed has the face of a sheikh. To me, this implies that someday Ahmed could still become a sheikh. Perhaps those who struggle the most are those who may find the most humility\u2014that is, if they can overcome the selfish tendencies that sabotage their character. Those with the most humility, then, have the greatest potential to redeem themselves and others through their own piety. In other words, those who have sinned the most may hold the most spiritual wisdom and may become the most compassionate towards sinners.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Whatever Ahmed\u2019s motives were for making his headlong rush, it remains true that he can now only hope for redemption in the eyes of God.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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If it is all a dream, Shakib\u2019s words are still true. Even as a junkie, Ahmed can still have a sheikh-face. If all of Ahmed\u2019s failings drive him to discover humility, piety, and compassion (in that order), he will be a well-qualified spiritual leader. In both cases, he is a rogue because of his lack of piety. And in both cases, he is still redeemable.<\/p>

But he does not fulfill his obligation to bury the sheikh in Sijilmasa. Instead, he wakes up from the first dream and finds himself back in his drug-addicted reality, dazed and bloodied next to the car. Rather than face this truth, he dreams a second time. This dream is not a re-do of the first, nor does it include burying the sheikh. He dreams instead of facing the consequences of his choices from the first time around, by pursuing the marauders who captured his companion. Since these marauders have made their base in the ruins of Sijilmasa, I have wrestled with understanding why Ahmed does not also go back to recover the Sheikh\u2019s body and carry it with him\u2014it is still his dream, and he is headed there anyway. Instead, Ahmed seems instinctually to understand something about his redemption.<\/p>

It\u2019s worth remembering that, if the journey is all in Ahmed\u2019s head, the dream is one that ends with sacrifice. Perhaps Ahmed finds this sacrifice to be redemptive\u2014what Ahmed-as-drug-addict longs for but doesn\u2019t have the willpower to achieve. Because he can\u2019t break free from his addiction, he dreams of breaking free from a different compulsion\u2014the deceit, selfishness, and greed that he displays on his journey through the Atlas Mountains. When he rushes into the marauder\u2019s camp he has, at least, mustered enough love to be willing to sacrifice himself attempting to save another. Maybe he has, at last, chosen not to act out of self-interest.<\/p>

If he is truly redeemed at the end of the film, it is not by successfully overcoming any of the challenges he has faced nor by atoning for his failures. Ahmed achieves it instead by facing a new and insurmountable challenge with a sincere heart. It’s unclear whether this act of sincerity is actually selfless, or just self-destructive. Is he redeemed, or does he just give up and run towards death rather than live with guilt? We cannot really know his heart, but I would rather believe that he finally embraced Shakib\u2019s words and faced the marauders with love, whatever that really means. I would prefer to view the film\u2019s ending on a note of hope instead of believing that all of Shakib\u2019s efforts and all of Ahmed\u2019s missteps were for naught. Whatever Ahmed\u2019s motives were for making his headlong rush, it remains true that he can now only hope for redemption in the eyes of God.<\/p>

Ahmed\u2019s redemption is curious and the reality (or not) of the rural scenes inscrutable. But if they are linearly connected to the urban scenes\u2014all transpiring in the same world\u2014we do not then need to ask why things happen the way they do. The sequence of events in this interpretation truly is a consequence of Ahmed\u2019s actions, not a reflection of his subconscious. The outcome is irrevocable and the whole journey is an actual test of human nature. Once Ahmed decides to leave the sheikh\u2019s body in the desert, he cannot not know where to return to find him even if he finds conviction to fulfill the obligation. The most he can decide to do is pursue the marauders. Seeing the journey as real does not necessarily help us draw any conclusions about how the film understands nature of redemption. It does, however, help us focus on the question.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Ahmed is the protagonist, but Shakib gives the film its heart and its weight.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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So, while I find the dream interpretation of the rural-urban divide to be possible, I also find it to be distracting. The lack of cell phones or radios isn\u2019t necessarily proof that the rural scenes are not contemporary to the urban ones. And though there may be a moral connection between wandering thieves and drug addicts (and I certainly agree that both are redeemable), I worry that the dream interpretation puts too much focus on the connection between the two. Viewing the rural scenes as a dream does not help us understand the journey in its own right. It makes the film a vague social commentary about the moral mind of a drug-addict rather than an abstruse piece of art. The rural journey is rendered less impactful because it is explained away, denying the reader the opportunity to wrestle with the decisions Ahmed makes and with whether he is ultimately redeemed. More than anything else, the dream interpretation obscures Shakib.<\/p>

Like I said, if I simplify the film, I should say it is about Ahmed. But if I am honest about the film in all its complexity, I must admit that Ahmed is the protagonist, but Shakib gives the film its heart and its weight.<\/p>

But who exactly is Mohamed Shakib ben Omar? The narrative doesn\u2019t introduce us to him at the same time as Ahmed and Said\u2014the other major players. Instead, Shakib makes his entrance in the film\u2019s first urban scene, which comes right after the sheikh decides to lead the caravan into the Atlas Mountains. The camera cuts from the imposing terrain to a run-down car yard where many day laborers wait to be called up for work as a \u201cdriver.\u201d It\u2019s never specified what exactly this work entails, but all the old cars are yellow. A man standing around with a clipboard\u2014presumably the owner\u2014calls Shakib\u2019s name. The men crowding around him all groan and complain that Shakib is too young, too inexperienced. \u201cAll of this is true,\u201d the owner says, \u201cbut he is blessed. He is a good co-driver.\u201d<\/p>

Shakib himself is out of earshot. He is more concerned with fables than with work. The owner searches around the yard and finds Shakib riffing on the story of Iblis, who is the leader of the devils according to the Quran. As the story originally goes, Iblis was banished from heaven after refusing to bow before the first human, Adam. Shakib takes creative liberty by adding to the story, presumably to make a point (one I have spent plenty of time attempting to discern).<\/p>

The owner finds Shakib at the end of his story and leads him into a car. He tells Shakib that his mission is to guide the caravan safely through the mountains, as best as he can. Further, he must take special care of Ahmed. \u201cWhy me?\u201d Shakib says. The only answer he gets is, \u201cit had to happen someday.\u201d The conversation feels tense and ominous. It\u2019s as if Shakib expects, when he\u2019s asked to guide them through the mountains, that he likely won\u2019t make it out alive.<\/p>

Shakib may be \u201cblessed\u201d precisely because he is destined for such a difficult task. He eventually succeeds in inspiring Said, who realizes that he has found purpose in life for the first time through this mission, and so commits himself fully to carrying the sheikh\u2019s body to Sijilmasa. Through all his cryptic but seemingly wise statements, Shakib has motivated Said to redeem himself. His attempts to encourage Ahmed, however, mostly fail. And when Ahmed gives up, Shakib assumes responsibility for the group\u2014to tragic results. He is brave, pious, and well-intentioned, but he laments his inexperience as a leader.<\/p>

\u00a0Shakib drives Ahmed to the conclusion, where they attack the marauder camp. Who is to say what miracles can happen in the hands of God, but it would take nothing less than a miracle for them to escape alive. Are they brave? Or just feckless? Is theirs a worthy sacrifice? Does it redeem Ahmed from his prior neglect, misgivings, and bad intentions? I would like to say that they are foolish\u2014that Ahmed would have been better off to repent and start his life anew\u2014but I am not sure enough to judge them within a Christian framework, let alone an Islamic one.<\/p>

Shakib is a \u201cdriver,\u201d but let\u2019s think of him as a \u201cguide\u201d instead. Shakib doesn\u2019t know a path through the mountains any more than Ahmed or Said. It seems Shakib was picked for his job because of his moral sensibilities. He was chosen to guide Ahmed towards a moral redemption, and he speaks to Ahmed with such uncanny, opaque, and baffling wisdom that I have wondered, \u201cis he supposed to be an angel?\u201d \u201cWhy does he lead Ahmed this way?\u201d Shakib\u2019s paradoxical language is precisely what resonates with me\u2014it gives me so many more questions than answers.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Mimosas<\/em> leaves me with many unresolved questions that seem to shelter a deeper spiritual wisdom.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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What I like so much about Shakib reflects what I like so much about the film: it left me with many unresolved questions that seem to shelter a deeper spiritual wisdom. My biggest qualm with Mimosas<\/em> is how the two temporalities\u2014rural and urban\u2014have been tied together. The rural temporality mostly stands alone, with the only potential plot hole being how Shakib finds the party. But the urban temporality makes little sense without the context of its rural counterpart. There are multiple scenes of taxi cars driving through the desert to a throbbing and ominous soundtrack, but they seem to do nothing more than build tension and increase the distance between the two settings. Furthermore, without all of the rural scenes in between, the urban scenes at the beginning, when Shakib is called to his mission, cannot be connected to the one where Ahmed wakes up next to the car. If we ascribe to the dream interpretation, we might allow that this idiosyncrasy was included, but this explanation just feels lazy. To me, it would\u2019ve been much more powerful if there were no more urban scenes after Shakib joins the caravan.<\/p>

As it stands, I think the weight of Shakib\u2019s words and his actor\u2019s performance, as well as the weight of Ahmed\u2019s actions, become overshadowed by the increasingly divergent temporalities. These temporalities tempt a viewer to focus too much on connecting them together or determining the relationship between them. The film\u2019s true strength lies instead in its pensive pace and its dialogue. And I believe that these bits shine through despite the diverging temporalities. So many bits of what Shakib said have stuck with me, and I\u2019ve been mulling over them ever since.<\/p>

My biggest qualm with Mimosas<\/em> is how the two temporalities\u2014rural and urban\u2014have been tied together. The rural temporality mostly stands alone, with the only potential plot hole being how Shakib finds the party. But the urban temporality makes little sense without the context of its rural counterpart. There are multiple scenes of taxi cars driving through the desert to a throbbing and ominous soundtrack, but they seem to do nothing more than build tension and increase the distance between the two settings. Furthermore, without all of the rural scenes in between, the urban scenes at the beginning, when Shakib is called to his mission, cannot be connected to the one where Ahmed wakes up next to the car. If we ascribe to the dream interpretation, we might allow that this idiosyncrasy was included, but this explanation just feels lazy. To me, it would\u2019ve been much more powerful if there were no more urban scenes after Shakib joins the caravan.<\/p>

As it stands, I think the weight of Shakib\u2019s words and his actor\u2019s performance, as well as the weight of Ahmed\u2019s actions, become overshadowed by the increasingly divergent temporalities. These temporalities tempt a viewer to focus too much on connecting them together or determining the relationship between them. The film\u2019s true strength lies instead in its pensive pace and its dialogue. And I believe that these bits shine through despite the diverging temporalities. So many bits of what Shakib said have stuck with me, and I\u2019ve been mulling over them ever since.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Drew Whitley<\/strong> is a senior at Dartmouth College pursuing majors in religion and Middle Eastern studies. When he\u2019s not writing his thesis on deathbed speeches in the Bible, Drew likes to run, climb, bike, ski, hike, listen to folk music, and play board games.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A graduating senior wrestles with themes of redemption and unanswered questions in Oliver Laxe\u2019s \u201creligious western.\u201d By Drew 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