QUARZAZATE: Monks in the desert

I have always held the irrational belief that movie making is the most exalted art form. Movie studios therefore take on spiritual significance for me. And so when I heard that there was a movie studio on the way to Ait Benhaddou in a place called Quarzazate (pronounced war-za-zat) I decided to make a half-day pilgrimage out of it. I made the case to Steve and the Germans (we hired a land cruiser to drive from Merzouga to Marrakesh). Everyone thought it was a great idea and we so we stopped our hired jeep outside Atlas Studios.

At first, we were turned down as “they” were in the process of shooting a movie (they would not tell me which one). I had to gain entry and so I said I was a Bollywood producer living in New York checking out different studios around the world for my next billion dollar movie. My hyperbole and air of false pomposity seemed to work like a charm. On hearing the word “Bollywood producer” the gatekeeper apologized for her initial curtness and let me and my “crew” explore the place. As I swaggered in confidently, she smiled at me and said “I big fan of Salman Khan….people in Morocco love Bollywood.” As I would quickly discover, Bollyood was not a parochial Indian phenomena. Its long tail stretched from south India across Africa into the Caribbean and through South America. Bollywood like the cell phone and anti-bush fervor had become ubiquitous through out the world.

As I entered the studio, the first think I saw was a strange bulbous looking monastery. It looked anachronistic, incongruous in the desert. I learned that Scorsese’ Kundun, a movie about the 14th Dalai Lama was shot in Quarzazate of all places! 700 monks were flown in from Tibet for the making of the movie. They spent 10 months here. My mind was filled with questions. Why had Morocco become a suitable place for films? It could only be one of two things I inferred: cost or location. I later learned that it was neither. Apparently the quality of light in Morocco is extremely unique and it lends itself perfectly for film making! We walked through the sets of Babel, The Last Temptation of Christ (I had just finished reading Kazanzakis’ book and hence was particularly interested in the set), Astrex, Alexander the Great, Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven! What a wonderful afternoon. After satiating my child-like fascination for movie studios and my nascent megalomania, we set off to Ait Benhaddou with an ersatz Sphinx fading into the distance.