Journey To Mecca

One suspects that this gigantiscope outing is the closest the majority of non-Muslims will ever get to seeing Mecca up close. It took 87 permits to allow the 85-strong IMAX team special access to this most sacred monument and, for the viewer, the final scenes shot from a helicopter 200 feet above as thousands of pilgrims encircle the cube-shaped ‘Kaaba’ below are a sight to behold, even if the magic of this Saudi Arabian locale is somewhat spoiled by the high-rise buildings surrounding it. But before reaching this final goal, first we must endure a meaningful but compressed and poorly performed dramatic reconstruction of an earlier, inspirational Hajj undertaken, in 1325, by seasoned Moroccan scholar Ibn Battuta (the late Chems-Eddine Zinoun). As an enlightening illustration of one of Islam’s most fascinating rituals, this just about succeeds – but the drama at its heart is simply substandard.