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People are voting emotionally.

Good concept, poorly executed.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Inside Mecca, directed by Anisa Mehdi, is a very interesting documentary about 3 people taking a pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the 5 pillars of Islam called the Hajj. The documentary is well presented and easy to follow. It clearly explains all the aspects of the Hajj. The movie depicts how difficult it is to set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca as there is a lot of planning for the people going on the pilgrimage . The Hajj is something that Muslim people prepare for all year. The documentary covered three people's journeys, Ismail Mahbob: a Malaysian Muslim, Khalil Mandhlazi: an African Muslim and Fidelma O'Leary: an American convert to Islam. O'Leary was originally Catholic but she believed that Catholicism did not reflect all her beliefs so she converted and is now a practicing Muslim. The documentary shows both the positive and negative sides of the Hajj which makes it more interesting because it is not biased. The movie also shows the different views of the three people during the Hajj and the experiences they each go through. Anisa Mehdi did well to include three very different types of people in the documentary as it shows the different views of each person, from different backgrounds and originating from different places in the world and how each one of them is affected from their experience differently. I would highly recommend this documentary to anyone who likes to learn about culture and is open to new ideas. The documentary will make a whole new view on Muslim culture.

Very disappointing by National Geographic, very low quality from all perspectives as a movie. can't you at least choose a music that is more related to the context? why in such a crowded context we hear only the voice of 3 people? can't you reflect and give more time to the event as a total? you are calling the movie "Inside Mecca", so reflect it all and not only the personal story of 3 people. it's also obvious you brought all the negative connotations in Mecca and emphasized them. did you make the movie to criticize the whole thing? then why not telling it clearly and name the movie something like "errors of hajj"?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7q_LcqbvKI This short film in the link, made by a normal person using a home video camera reflect it to me better that National Geographic, congratulations!!!

It's one thing to promise, at some distant point in one's life, to make a long and arduous journey through the desert to a holy city. It's quite another thing to actually do it. In the National Geographic documentary Inside Mecca, the camera follows three Muslims from three very different countries: a professor of neuroscience from Texas, a radio host from South Africa, and a corporate executive from Malaysia, on their pilgrimage to the most sacred site in Islam. Throughout their journey, they experienced numerous tests to their faith, as well as saw the true scale of Islam as a religion. The documentary also provides the viewer with the details of the Hajj, and tells the story of how it came to be and the difficulty in organizing it today. For me, this documentary was a whole new look at a religious tradition I was only vaguely aware of. I knew that Muslims had to visit Mecca at least once in their lives, and I knew that had something to do with standing around this big black box, but I never knew what any of it meant or what else was required. The documentary provided lots of helpful back-story, so I learned all about the Hajj and the religious history behind it. Normally in these types of documentaries, the religious story is told through reenactments - some aspiring B-list actor in nativity clothes tries to act like Abraham while the narrator talks. But I liked that in Inside Mecca, they told the stories through just voice and landscape shots. It kept the documentary from feeling forced or artificial. Really, its primary focus wasn't the history of the Hajj. The documentary was about the Hajj today, and how an ancient pilgrimage exists in a 21st century world. In this the documentary excelled, as following three specific characters helped give me a sense of what it would be like to actually journey to Mecca. They describe a lot of the modern inconveniences of travel - the bureaucracy of getting a visa, long bus rides, crowds, and getting strange looks in a foreign country. I particularly empathized with the woman from Texas, who was white and so got a lot of flak about being a "real Muslim". I could understand her frustration, as I feel the same every time I go to Korea and get treated like a tourist. I also enjoyed learning about the organizational leviathan that is running the city of Mecca. Iyad Masani, the Minister of Hajj, said "If you can imagine having 20 Super Bowls, in one stadium, where two million people will come… and if you add to that that these two million people will actually be taking part in playing the game, it may give you a glimpse of the preparations needed for Hajj." Especially when they showed the tent city at Mina, or the hordes of people walking towards Arafat, I really got a sense of how big an event this was. If there's one thing this documentary accomplished, it was showing me what going to Mecca would actually be like. Mundane scenes, like one of the people packing their luggage or trying to put on their ihram taught me more about the Hajj than many of the facts. I didn't just learn about the traditions behind the Hajj, I learned about what it meant for Muslims today. Even as an atheist, I quite enjoyed Inside Mecca, as they were impressively non-biased throughout the documentary. I would highly recommend it for anyone who wants to learn about the Hajj, or anyone who just wants an interesting look into Islam today.

National Graphic's, "Inside Mecca" makes use of unique access to Islam's holiest city to follow three different Muslims of very different backgrounds as they go though a five-day quest for salvation. "Inside Mecca" is able to capture the spiritual look, and claustrophobic feel most experience during their pilgrimage. Through three different viewpoints and the experiences of the participants, the viewer follows not only their physical journey, but also their spiritual one. One of the five pillars of Islam, the hajj is required of all who can manage it. Each year, Muslims from all over the world travel to Mecca to praise and give thanks to God, to ask pardon for their sins and to renew their spiritual commitment through rituals. This well made film gives a glimpse of a place most will never see or understand. I found this film accurate, and informative.