The Great Mecca Feast

The Great Mecca Feast (Dutch: Het Groote Mekka-Feest) is a 1928 documentary film by George Krugers. Divided into four acts, it opens with a group of Muslim men from the Dutch East Indies who undertake the hajj pilgrimage, then showcases elements of everyday life and worship in the Hejaz – including the hajj pilgrimage itself. As Mecca had long been closed to non-Muslims, Krugers passed as a Muslim and recorded video- and photographic documentation of the pilgrimage. In this, he was supported by people in both the East Indies and the Hejaz.

Krugers hoped that the film would be screened at the Paris Colonial Exposition, and although it was well-received upon being premiered to Dutch audiences on 9 November 1928, subsequent showings were rare. The film, described as the first documentary about the hajj pilgrimage, is the only one of Krugers' works known to have survived. It has been analyzed within the context of colonial networks and control over the hajj process, as well as a primary document providing insight into the experiences of contemporary pilgrims.

Summary
A group of rural men in the Dutch East Indies buy tickets for their hajj pilgrimage. They travel from Tanjung Priok to the Hejaz aboard the SS Madioen, stopping in Palembang to take on more passengers and Sabang for medical examinations. After embarking more passengers at Perim Island, they reach Jeddah and disembark.

In the "harbour of Mecca", various elements of everyday life are seen, including the architecture, the day labourers, and the livestock. Also seen are pilgrims of all walks of life. These pilgrims depart for Mecca, some on camelback and others on foot. They arrive in the city, and landmarks such as the Kaaba and the Zamzam Well are shown. As pilgrims line the road, King Ibn Saud arrives.

The pilgrims do their Friday prayers, then circumambulate the Kaaba before performing the sa'i. Animals are ritually slaughtered, and journeys to Arafat, Medina, and Mina are planned. The pilgrims conduct their sunset and evening prayers in Muzdalifah. They then begin the ritual Stoning of the Devil in Mina, the city of tents. After the return to Mecca on the fifth day, the pilgrimage is complete. The pilgrims return to Jeddah and board a Royal Rotterdam Lloyd ship for the trip back to the Indies, and are seen off by Daniël van der Meulen, the Dutch consul to Jeddah.

Production
The Great Mecca Feast was filmed and produced by George Krugers. It was his first production under the banner of Krugers Filmbedrijf, which he had established after handling cinematography on Loetoeng Kasaroeng (1926) and directing Eulis Atjih (1927) for the Java Film Company. As the subject matter, he chose the hajj pilgrimage; the scholar Rukayyah Reichling argues that Krugers must have recognized the commercial viability of such a project, as Westerners were curious about Mecca while few Muslims of the Dutch East Indies were able to afford the journey. Support may have come from the major shipping companies of the Indies, which were looking to legitimize their role in transporting pilgrims; by 1928, some 50,000 pilgrims from the Indies made the journey every year.

The city of Mecca had been closed to non-Muslims for centuries; some non-Muslim Europeans had attempted to enter, but few succeeded. Krugers thus prepared himself to pass as Muslim. He adopted a Muslim name, Abdul Wahid, and was circumcised. To better understand the pilgrimage process, he spoke with Agus Salim – a leading figure with the Sarekat Islam, an Islamic socio-political organization – and received a letter of recommendation to facilitate his entrance. As with the Dutch Orientalist Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje before him, he may have professed to have embraced Islam; such claims are disputed by Krugers' family.

Filming for the documentary began in Bandung, West Java, on 3 February 1928. Using a Bell and Howell Eyemo 35 mm camera, Krugers made the pilgrimage to Mecca. Reichling argues that he must certainly have had a network of informants assisting him, providing information about good camera angles and local news. The local authorities were reportedly advised of the filming project, and the Dutch consul van der Meulen was extensively involved. At the same time, Krugers maintained his distance from some of the holy sites; the film scholar Sandeep Ray notes, for instance, that the Kaaba is only shown from a high vantage point, rather than a perspective amidst the crowd.

While shooting the documentary, Krugers also took numerous photographs of the hajj. These included several portraits of pilgrims, as well as views of the local people. He returned to Bandung on 8 July 1928, and edited the film there. He prepared 113 intertitles for the film, which spans four reels and has a duration of 72 minutes. The Great Mecca Feast consists of four acts: the journey from the Dutch East Indies, Jeddah, the hajj activities, and the return to the Dutch East Indies.

Release and reception
The Great Mecca Feast was shown in the Dutch East Indies as early as 17 August 1928, when it was screened at Decca Park in Batavia. Such screenings were unusual for documentaries produced in the Indies; Ray suggests that the only film to receive similar theatrical showings was Willy Mullens' De Pest Op Java (The Plague in Java, 1926). Krugers began preparations for a European screening soon after. He and his family departed for the Netherlands on 12 September 1928, hoping that the film would eventually become known enough for screening at the Paris Colonial Exposition.

The documentary had its European premiere at the Stadsgehoorzaal in Leiden, the Netherlands, on 8 November 1928. This screening was attended by numerous Dutch socialites, including Princess Juliana, Minister of the Colonies Jacob Christiaan Koningsberger, and former Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies Alexander Idenburg; many attendees were members of the Oriental Society in the Netherlands. The film was given an introduction by Dutch Orientalist Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, the leader of the Society, who highlighted the importance of the hajj pilgrimage in Islam. Several of the photographs taken by Krugers were used as marketing material, and the film was later promoted by the government.

Newspaper reception of the film was generally positive, with much interest in the perceived "forbiddenness" of the site. One newspaper claimed:

"[Passing as Muslim] gave the opportunity to make recordings of the saintly of the saints, whereby one can now see images which otherwise  remain  completely  hidden  from  the  non-Mohammadans... Upon discovery, he certainly would have received the death penalty."

Other elements of the film received praise. Het Vaderland highlighted the natural beauty of the Erythraean Sea, as well as the film's views of Mecca itself. De Tijd reported that audiences followed the show with interest, and that Krugers had "turned everything into a nice whole". The Nieuwe Haarlemsche Courant emphasized the importance of Snouck Hurgronje's introduction, which it summarized in its review, for contextualizing the film. Several newspapers, however, criticized the film's technical aspects, including its lighting and pacing.

Legacy


The Great Mecca Feast has been identified as the first documentary film about the hajj pilgrimage; previously, photographs had been taken by the Egyptian engineer Mohammad Sadiq Bay and by Snouck Hurgronje. It is the only one of Krugers' films not to be considered lost; Krugers kept copies in Amsterdam, intending to use them as gifts, and these were donated to the EYE Film Institute Netherlands in 1964. Original nitrate reels are also held at the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision in Hilversum.

Screenings of the film were sparse, but continued into 1938; on 26 December of that year, a screening at the Cinema Palace in Groningen was introduced by P.H. van der Hoog. In 1933, it was announced that the film would be shown to academic audiences in the United Kingdom, again with an introduction by Snouck Hurgronje. Academic mentions of the film have likewise been scarce, though The Great Mecca Feast began to gain recognition in 2015, when Krugers' son Jan was invited to discuss the film at Leiden University.

Reichling argues that, just as the governments in Krugers' time were positioning themselves as the "vigilant yet considerate guardians of the hajj", Krugers' moving images bear a "colonial gaze" that drew from established networks of colonial actors and institutions. She notes several inaccuracies in the film's depiction of hajj rituals, noting particularly the absence of pilgrims standing in prayer on the Day of Arafah, the omission of communal Eid worship, as well as the paucity of festive activities.

Ray argues that the film provides valuable insights into the experiences of hajj pilgrims, including meeting Muslims from around the world. The film also shows elements of the pilgrimage that had been phased out, such as the slaughtering of animals in front of pilgrims. Krugers' approach, he writes, "lends the film an intimate texture at times", allowing viewers insight into the pilgrimage. He notes, however, that the film has its limitations; Krugers maintained his distance from some of his subjects, and failed to represent the experiences of women on the pilgrimage.