'Ashûrâ': This Blood Spilled in My Veins

In the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyya, director Jalal Toufic filmed the Âshûrâ, the commemoration of the assassination of Ali, the prophet Muhammad’s grandson. Ali’s followers are the Shi-ites, the smaller of the two major movements in Islam. In long shots, Toufic films the ritual procession of the Âshûrâ, in which men chant texts about Ali in unison while rhythmically and synchronously hitting their bare chests. Furthermore, he registers a sermon in the mosque about Ali’s demise. The camera travels along the faces of the attendees, many of who cover their tear-filled eyes with their hands. In another sequence, someone drives across town while, from the backseat, his eyes are being filmed via the rear-view mirror and prayers about Ali are heard on the radio. The drive ends at the university, where people talk about a text by Nietzsche on memory. In an intermezzo, the philosophers Gilles Deleuze (on elegies and laments) and Jacques Derrida (on weeping, eyes and seeing) are introduced. Back at the procession, Toufic follows the men who wound themselves and walk on through the streets bloodstained.