The Man Who Would Be King - Morocco as Movie Set

Last night we watched the film version of Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King, directed by John Huston, starring Sean Connery and Michael Kane. OK, so we're thirty years late, but better late than never!

I love Kipling's larger-than-life characters and his out-of-this-world plots. Last December, I read Kim for the first time, in honor of the late father of a close friend who used to read it every Christmas. I fell in love with the book - then watched the 1950's black and white film version, starring Errol Flynn. While Kipling might be considered racist by today's standards, in these stories he writes about the unique society of the British Raj and how it interacted with the South Asian society around it. In The Man Who Would Be King there is another story layer about British freemasons living in India, and the plot even proports that Alexander the Great was a freemason. Kipling loves to explore the idea of brotherhoods and the bonds and friendships among men. In Kim, he explores a colorful multi-ethnic network of spies set up by the British - another layer there too. I read in this an implication that all men are brothers - since his characters mix it up with all kinds of people. So what's not to like?

In addition to enjoying the story itself, I got a huge kick out of the scenery and extras because most of the film was shot in Morocco; near Marrakesh in the Atlas Mountains, then further south toward Ouarzazate. The dancers in the Kafiristan scenes were Guedra and other dancers from the village of Goulamine. The extras in the these scenes spoke Arabic perhaps mixed in with Tamazirt (Berber) - couldn't understand all of it. The Bhuddist-like monks were actually singing Muslim chants in Arabic - and they used local Moroccan costumes liberally.

Then, I got a good laugh when the bride of Sean Connery, Roxanne, was brought to him wearing a bright red Khaliji thobe! The film was made in the 1970's during a big 'Oil Boom' so no doubt the wardrobe people had come across one of them, and it ended up on the bride. Today's filmmakers would likely have made this movie in India itself, so they would have no need to find a stand-in country with stand-in languages and costumes. But I still enjoyed it. Best of all, it was wonderful to see places like Ait ben Hadou in the wedding scene - a place we've visited on every Oasis Dance Camp Morocco tour. When we were there last fall, we went horseback riding outside of Marrakesh. It turned out many of our horses have been used in films that we've seen, like Gladiator. Just another indication that the whole country of Morocco is a movie set!