Your experience of this film will largely depend on whether or not you are a Muslim. Those belonging to the 1.8 billion faithful will no doubt find this to be an awe-inspiring look at what to them is the holiest site on earth. For the rest of us, seeing this film is something of a more mixed experience.
As an agnostic (leaning towards atheism if I was absolutely forced to choose) I was alternately impressed by the sheer scale of operations depicted here, where 200 workers make the kiswah cloth covering the Kaabah using only the finest and most expensive of material and vast legions of workers are employed purely to hand out free water to pilgrims, and dismayed by the fact that such conformity and uncritical religiosity still exists on our planet.
Watching this film I was reminded of documentaries from North Korea, where everyone spoken to is unswervingly on message - 'North Korea is the best country in the world, the Kim family are the best rulers in existence - completely selfless and ruling only for the good of the Korean nation' etc. No one has a bad thing to say, and it's hard to tell how much of it genuine and how much motivated by fear of the consequences in a system that does not tolerate criticism. The same principle, alas, works to a degree here. Religious freedom does not exist in Saudi Arabia and any non-Islamic faith must be practised in private. Blasphemy or apostasy can be punished by death (or at the least, a long prison sentence). Indeed, religious freedom even within Islam does not exist in the country, as the kingdom exclusively promotes the ultra-strict Wahabbi form of Sunni Islam which deems Shi'a Muslims, Sufis and others as heretics (the word 'Wahabbi' is tellingly not used once in this film). I would perhaps lean towards being more generous here, as much of the religious fervour on display is most likely genuine.
However, having studied Islam and the world's other great faiths, the fact remains that there is no proof for any of the assertions of Islam, and much of the material in the Koran has since been comprehensively disproven by science. Islam's claims to be the absolute and final truth inevitably gives it an intolerant edge that has waxed and waned over the centuries, and moreover is directly contradicted by similar claims made by other faiths. The inability to countenance criticism displayed by many of its adherents, and the tolerance of this intolerance by some supposed liberals in West, is deeply troubling to anyone who values untrammelled freedom of enquiry in the pursuit of truth. The film gives an insight into what it must have been like to exist in the European Middle Ages, with the absolute grip the Catholic church had on all aspects of life. Yes - when visiting a medieval cathedral I am enthralled and uplifted by their beauty and scale, yet I am also glad that the unthinkingly conformist, irrational, unscientific and deeply intolerant societies that gave rise to them is in the past.
Of course none of those points is covered in the film, which adopts a fawning, reverential tone throughout. Despite constant talk of the unity of the Ummah (Muslim people) there is no mention either of the vicious sectarianism that had ripped apart Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and Lebanon. And of course, no talk of Saudi support for terrorist groups in the past, or their indiscriminate bombing of fellow Muslims in Yemen. There is no mention either of repeated safety failures at the site (there have been at least 8 stampedes since 1990, the last in 2015 resulting in over 2000 deaths), nor of the outcry caused in the Muslim world by the destruction of an old Ottoman fort to make way for the grotesquely tasteless Abraj Al Bait clocktower which now towers over the Haram. The cutting-edge use technology on display is also impressive, though one has to wonder if this is the best use of Saudi money given that so many of the 'Ummah' live in appalling poverty in places like Afghanistan and Somalia. Also, not a single woman is interviewed in this film, which says a lot.
In conclusion, I must say that seeing the hitherto unseen organisation that exists behind the scenes at Mecca is fascinating, and anyone with an interest in religion or even just grand human spectacle will enjoy this film. However, the flipside of a film made by pious Muslims working at the behest of the Saudi government is very one-sided, uncritical look at the Haram. Watch it by all means, but take what you see with a grain of salt.
As an agnostic (leaning towards atheism if I was absolutely forced to choose) I was alternately impressed by the sheer scale of operations depicted here, where 200 workers make the kiswah cloth covering the Kaabah using only the finest and most expensive of material and vast legions of workers are employed purely to hand out free water to pilgrims, and dismayed by the fact that such conformity and uncritical religiosity still exists on our planet.
Watching this film I was reminded of documentaries from North Korea, where everyone spoken to is unswervingly on message - 'North Korea is the best country in the world, the Kim family are the best rulers in existence - completely selfless and ruling only for the good of the Korean nation' etc. No one has a bad thing to say, and it's hard to tell how much of it genuine and how much motivated by fear of the consequences in a system that does not tolerate criticism. The same principle, alas, works to a degree here. Religious freedom does not exist in Saudi Arabia and any non-Islamic faith must be practised in private. Blasphemy or apostasy can be punished by death (or at the least, a long prison sentence). Indeed, religious freedom even within Islam does not exist in the country, as the kingdom exclusively promotes the ultra-strict Wahabbi form of Sunni Islam which deems Shi'a Muslims, Sufis and others as heretics (the word 'Wahabbi' is tellingly not used once in this film). I would perhaps lean towards being more generous here, as much of the religious fervour on display is most likely genuine.
However, having studied Islam and the world's other great faiths, the fact remains that there is no proof for any of the assertions of Islam, and much of the material in the Koran has since been comprehensively disproven by science. Islam's claims to be the absolute and final truth inevitably gives it an intolerant edge that has waxed and waned over the centuries, and moreover is directly contradicted by similar claims made by other faiths. The inability to countenance criticism displayed by many of its adherents, and the tolerance of this intolerance by some supposed liberals in West, is deeply troubling to anyone who values untrammelled freedom of enquiry in the pursuit of truth. The film gives an insight into what it must have been like to exist in the European Middle Ages, with the absolute grip the Catholic church had on all aspects of life. Yes - when visiting a medieval cathedral I am enthralled and uplifted by their beauty and scale, yet I am also glad that the unthinkingly conformist, irrational, unscientific and deeply intolerant societies that gave rise to them is in the past.
Of course none of those points is covered in the film, which adopts a fawning, reverential tone throughout. Despite constant talk of the unity of the Ummah (Muslim people) there is no mention either of the vicious sectarianism that had ripped apart Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and Lebanon. And of course, no talk of Saudi support for terrorist groups in the past, or their indiscriminate bombing of fellow Muslims in Yemen. There is no mention either of repeated safety failures at the site (there have been at least 8 stampedes since 1990, the last in 2015 resulting in over 2000 deaths), nor of the outcry caused in the Muslim world by the destruction of an old Ottoman fort to make way for the grotesquely tasteless Abraj Al Bait clocktower which now towers over the Haram. The cutting-edge use technology on display is also impressive, though one has to wonder if this is the best use of Saudi money given that so many of the 'Ummah' live in appalling poverty in places like Afghanistan and Somalia. Also, not a single woman is interviewed in this film, which says a lot.
In conclusion, I must say that seeing the hitherto unseen organisation that exists behind the scenes at Mecca is fascinating, and anyone with an interest in religion or even just grand human spectacle will enjoy this film. However, the flipside of a film made by pious Muslims working at the behest of the Saudi government is very one-sided, uncritical look at the Haram. Watch it by all means, but take what you see with a grain of salt.