Teaser
- The heirs of the Nabatheans lived were beduins and lived in Petra, the legendary capital of the ancient Nabathean people.
Synopsis
- Petra is the legendary capital of the Nabathean people. Around 500 years B.C. this till now mysterious population turned up in history and ruled the region for about 1000 years. Then the Nabatheans disappeared as mysteriously as they had appeared, nobody knows where they went or what became of them. Originally they were nomads and came from the hinterland of the Arabian peninsula. They became merchants and cameldrivers. They controlled the most important caravan routes. They became watertechnologists and were enormously rich. They built up a kingdom and constructed their capital, which is not comparable to any other city in the world: Petra, situated inside of the red rocks of Wadi Moussa. Its architecture has been influenced by Egyptian, Greek and Roman architects and the city was a well known trading place in the antique world. However, after the decline of the Roman empire, the city lost its importance and was forgotten completely by the world. An urban society, living in town houses and building enormous temples and graves, became a Bedouin society again. The heirs of the Nabatheans lived in tents from then on. They venerated the camel, and they lived in hundreds of graves and temples and thousands of natural cabes in Petra. For more than 600 years they prevented strangers from entering the fantastic city. They were afraid that people from other countries would loot the place, because they believed that there were hidden treasures to be found.
It is only until about 15 years ago, that the members of the Bdul clan lived in the unique and splendid historic scenery of the Nabathean ancient capital, which survived as a city of ruins, but without any mayor destructions. When King Hussein of Jordan realized the historical value of Petra, he ordered the members of the Bdul tribe to leave the ancient place. He had a modern village built up for them in the hills, north of Petra.
But every day they return to the old city: renting out camels for tourists to ride, renting out horses, donkeys, driving coaches, running little shops with clothes, hats or old stones, which they collect themselves. Outside the city, in parts that are not visited by tourists, many of the tribal people still live in old graves and temples. Their archways and housefronts are richly ornamented.
The ancient city of Beidha is situated only a few kilometers away from Petra. It was the suburban city of the metropolis, where the caravans used to stop before they entered the centre of the Nabathean empire. This area today is the housing area of the Bedouin tribe of the Amarin.
Turfa is a widow and she still lives in her tent as a full time nomad, together with her three daughters. The film shows her daily routines and listens to her stories and opinions of life. The sheikh of the Amarin tribe talks about the difficulties of rescuing old customs and traditions of the Bedouins in the future without prostituteing them to tourism or losing their own identity and dignity.
Beyond the step mountains stretch the plains of the Wadi Araba desert towards the Dead Sea. Most of the Bedouins of the Amarin tribe move into the desert during the winter months, because it gets very cold in the mountains near Beidha and Petra, Here they cultivate vegetables. That became possible with the help of a clever sheikh, they built a simple canalisation system. It functions very well. They earn a little money and they can feed theirselves better and more richly on vitamins than before.
The film tries to capture the spirit, everyday life and the social plitics of Bedouin life. Through the eyes of its principal participants the film wants to penetrate into the cultural landscape of an ancient society, to examine Bedouin hopes and traditions and to reveal their fear of one day disappearing beneath a tide of globalise uniformity in a world that has no room any more for people, who do not function within an international, moden system.
Crew
- Director: Martin Bosboom
- Screenplay: Susanne Müller-Hanpft
- Director of photography: Martin Bosboom / Oliver Willmy
- Editor (Cut): Raoul Sobel
- Sound: Susanne Müller-Hanpft / Michael Gerlach
