Tunisia and the Movies

Remember the scene in Cairo in Raiders of the Lost Ark where a gun man squares off against Indiana Jones and his whip? That was actually Kairouan, Tunisia.

And the desert planet where Luke Skywalker lived with his Uncle until Obi Wan came to get him? That's Tunisia too. George Lucas actually took the name of the actual city in the Sahara where he shot those early scenes from Star Wars: Tataouine. Well, he called his planet Tatooine -- which is how Tunisians pronounce that oddly spelled city. He used actual landscape and some architecture of the area, although the two suns are not real. Lucas returned to Tunisia for the scenes of Anakin's early life in the last three episodes of the saga. His Virgin Mary like mother dies in Tunisia.

While it's far too hot now in August to go visit the Sahara, Star Wars did make this something of a tourist lure. some murals and set dressing from the movie are in the Sidi Driss Hotel and the exterior of the famous cantina in Mos Eisley where Han Solo is introduced is still visible as is this mosque that became the entrance to the mean little spaceport.

Tunisia's own history is about to become movie fodder. Apparently I am not the only one newly excited to discover the Punic Wars, the first genocide in history. Two versions of the story are being made. And in one of them Denzel Washington is taking the role of Hannibal. That is a movie I'll go see.