March 23, 2004
BARAKA AND BLACK MAGIC IN MOROCCO
Written and Drawn by Rick Smith
Published by Alternative Comics
Rick and Tania are Texans taking the road less traveled as they traverse the world. Instead of seeing Paris or London, they find themselves in Morocco, a decidedly different choice to say the least, and this travelogue tells the story of their visit, and the strange number of people trying to sell them carpets.
We first meet the only semi-happy couple as they disembark from a ferry that has brought them to Morocco from Spain. Immediately, Smith’s tale sets up the conflicts and suspense of his tale, bringing out the difficulties of deciding what is a rip-off as far as taxi expenses go, and meeting their first seedy marijuana salesman. The first few pages, at least, give you the sensation that there’s an interesting path of drugs, danger, and excitement ahead.
Our not-so-innocents abroad begin their journey, and they manage to meet up with other Americans as well, filling out an interesting supporting cast. The others they meet are much more experienced travelers, and they provide some solid guidance to keeping Rick and Tania on track in their journey, as well as helping propel the story; the new folks are the equivalent of expository paragraphs, and make the outlay of information about the area, etc, much easier to swallow.
One of the more interesting moments in the book happens early on, when Rick and Tania begin having trouble deciding to tell the locals that they are from Texas when asked. This tale takes place post 9/11, and George W. Bush has made things much, much harder for American tourists in many parts of the world. However, the thread seems to quickly go away and is pretty much dropped after the ruminating is done. That’s just one of the many things about this graphic novel that feel undercooked, and that’s really unfortunate.
Indeed, a pretty good chunk of the book has that undercooked feeling when you peel away the layers of the story. The group spends a great deal of its time going from place to place, city to city, finding places to hike, smoke the local dope, and plenty of people trying to sell cheap (or not-so-cheap) goods, particularly Berber carpets. The carpet sales even manage to get close to being pretty sinister at one stop, as Rick and one of the other Americans are given drugged tea meant to knock them out enough to be stripped of their money, or perhaps their lives. But there’s never a true sense of danger in the pages. Smith either is unable artistically to present the feeling of fear that the drugged tea episode should have triggered, or he is unwilling, because once again, the entire episode is brushed away within about two panels after it’s over. I kept re-reading to make sure I hadn’t missed something else.
Taking the two paragraphs above as a whole, the biggest problem with BARAKA is that it only scratches the surface of most of the incidents portrayed in its pages. The great travelogues always find a way to not only bring you the sights, smells, and sounds of the peoples and destinations, but they base their foundations stringently on the question “why?” Why is the author there? Why is the author buying that item? Talking to that person? Staying in that place? Telling that local that lie? Smith, unfortunately, doesn’t answer the most basic question of why in his book, and that leaves the reader confused and wanting.
Why are Rick and Tania, Texans, traveling in such a dangerous spot in the post-9/11 world? If they wanted seedy marijuana salesmen, pushy merchants hawking overly expensive shit, and scary run-ins with corrupt cops… well, they could have hopped in their car, drove south, and crossed the border to Mexico. Smith wants to tell you his story, and it really seems like it was probably a fantastic trip, regardless of the fucked up things that happened, but he’s never able to make you feel anything but detached about it, so you just don’t care.
As far as trying to get interesting and diverse ideas and books into the marketplace, I respect Rick Smith for trying something different, but I hope that his next effort will be a bit stronger, and have a bit more of a solid foundation to build on. Grade: C
Should It Be A Movie?
It would be next to impossible to make any sort of faithful film adaptation out of Smith’s book, because frankly, there’s nothing cinematic about it. Partially, that’s due to their being no sense of thrill, exhilaration, or danger in he and Tania’s journey. On the flip side, that’s also due to the traveler’s seeming to avoid the big touristy sights and instead choosing to go hiking in trashed out mountain passes and flat deserts. BARAKA (of which there is already a superior film by that name, so the full title would need to be used for this property) shapes up as being visually flat and uninteresting.
The scripter would be well-served by enhancing scenes like the drugged tea and their meeting with a corrupt policeman. Few things scare Americans like the fear of foreign justice systems and prisons. The lack of due process usually leaves people quaking in their shoes. That fear can be made omnipresent in the script and make the story much more riveting and engrossing.
Bulking up Tania’s role would also need to be on the menu. The book never manages to quite let us see what she sees in Rick, and there’s more than one moment when you really would like to know the answer to that question. Unfortunately, she comes off as a distant and uncaring cipher more than once instead. She needs to be much more of an equal partner in the trip to make a successful film
See you in seven!
E-mail me from the link below. Review materials may be sent to: Marc Mason, P.O. Box 26732, Tempe, AZ, 85285.
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