Inside Mecca
Inside Mecca
| 01 March 2003 (USA)
Inside Mecca Trailers

The events of the hajj have long remained veiled from non-Muslims, who are forbidden even to enter the holy city of Mecca. A team of Muslim filmmakers gained access to Islam's holiest place at the peak of the pilgrimage to document the holy event for National Geographic Television.

Reviews
user-15-505045

Inside Mecca tells the story of 3 Muslims making their pilgrimage to Mecca, called Hajj, and is one of the 5 pillars of Islam. The movie is shot in documentary style and shows how traveling to Mecca is not as easy as you may have expected. The movie follows 3 people on their journey to Mecca, Ismail Mahbob, Khalil Mandhlazi and Fidelma O'Leary. Because there are over 1.7 billion Muslims in the world and all of them have to make this journey to mecca there needs to be a lot of planning involved in making the trip happen. You must book a time to go weeks or even months in advance. Something I found interesting with the film is that the American women, Fidelma O'Leary, was going by herself on the trip she would need permission from her husband. But because she was divorced, she needed permission from her only son to travel to Mecca. I was surprised that they weren't asked to stop recording more because I thought the administrators would not have wanted them to film there. I think this film does an excellent job of showing the difficulties of making the pilgrimage but also how important it is to make it.

... View More
Will F

National Graphic's, "Inside Mecca" makes use of unique access to Islam's holiest city to follow three different Muslims of very different backgrounds as they go though a five-day quest for salvation. "Inside Mecca" is able to capture the spiritual look, and claustrophobic feel most experience during their pilgrimage. Through three different viewpoints and the experiences of the participants, the viewer follows not only their physical journey, but also their spiritual one. One of the five pillars of Islam, the hajj is required of all who can manage it. Each year, Muslims from all over the world travel to Mecca to praise and give thanks to God, to ask pardon for their sins and to renew their spiritual commitment through rituals. This well made film gives a glimpse of a place most will never see or understand. I found this film accurate, and informative.

... View More
Julius

Inside Mecca is a extremely informative documentary.  The plot follows three people, a South African man, an American woman, and a Man from Malaysia, embarking on Hajj.  The documentary shows the process of going on Hajj from three totally different perspectives and the problems for each person. The documentary is very factual and provides a lot of information about mecca and some of its problems during Hajj and about people embarking on Hajj. It is a very complicated process and each person goes on Hajj sometimes experiencing problems that they had not expected. Each person come out a different person. This is a great documentary.

... View More
filmalamosa

This film shows what a hajj entails to Mecca and its surroundings. If only the hand held camera had not been so jumpy, I found this distracting as I tried to focus on what was going on. Surely there are ways to reduce this!The story such as it is follows 3 Moslems on their hajj. A white female Texan, a Black South African and a Malaysian businessman.I learned a few things I didn't know but kept thinking how much more beautifully the movie could have been shot...it is amateurish with the jerky motions mentioned above, no unique camera angles, and no cinematography input of any note.I guess in the spirit of the Hajj one should not criticize however... The topic gets a 10 this movie a 2...

... View More