“Suffer Berlock”… A Dramatic Allegory of Painful Stage 100 Years Later

The horrific story of the people of Madinah is still etched in the memory of the elderly who lived through that horrific incident of forced displacement that the Ottoman Empire implemented against thousands in 1915 with the crime of “Safar Berlik”. Men, women and children from the residents of Medina before and after the First World War. This painful historical event is covered by the series “Safar Perlaq” currently airing on “MBC” channel. The journey of four political awareness and education moves from the corridors to the battle fronts with the Ottoman army. First in the Balkan Wars on the Russian border, then in rebellion against the oppression of the Ottoman Sultanate and the brutality of its practices.

Search trip

The hero of the work, the Saudi actor, Abdul-Rahman Al-Yamani, talks to Asharq Al-Awsad about his pre-preparations, “I read a lot about the (Safar Perlaq) incident, I asked my friends. Medina, and some of them with their relatives who lived what happened. I was connected, and some sent me the articles of historians in Madinah, and it took me a month to understand the details of this incident.

Saudi actor Abd al-Rahman al-Yamani, hero of “Safar Berlaq” (Asharq al-Awsad).

Al-Yamani points out that many of the work’s viewers were unaware of this historical event, and that the series inspired them to seek it out, read and learn more, indicating that the work garnered overwhelmingly positive responses after showing its first episodes. He adds: “It’s wonderful to have an artist contribute to educating the public about a historical event that took place.” I am proud to be a part of this huge project.

About his role in the role of “Abdul Rahman Al-Madani”, he says, “It is one of the most important roles I have ever played, because unlike what happens when an artist, it involves many things that are far from my real personality. Playing a role that is close to parts of his real personality.

Despite the similarity of the name, between the artist and the hero of the work, al-Yamani says, “One of the most important differences is that I am an energetic person and I have a strong and clear body language, while Abdul-Rahman al-Madani is a quiet and somewhat mysterious person, who He behaves calmly, he thinks ahead about his steps, so his courage is not too much, he clings to many principles and beliefs that he believes in. Against him, the psychological struggle begins from here, because it is not easy to destroy or easily change one’s principles.

Social reading

Al-Yamani affirms that Abd al-Rahman’s character in “Safar Perlaq” does not deal with a simple topic, but with a country that needs its protection, and with the injustice of consuming a large number of people, and adds: “If no common man is a traitor to his country and religion, these things It’s hard to ignore.” Or a stupid person,” explains Abdul Rahman’s persona in the work as an educated person who studies. As a scholarship student at that time, he studies in a different country in a different language with a different society, while he belongs to a family in Madinah that has its social, cultural and political weight.

These things, the hero of the work mentions, the character of Abd al-Rahman al-Madani had a great background in the lifestyle and reading society and the surrounding circumstances, which created conflict for him, and he continues. “Furthermore, a series of intellectual, emotional, and social shocks awakens a person to discover that life is not what it seems.

In memory of Hatem Ali

According to Al-Yamani, “Safar Perlaq” took about two years to shoot, and the series was the last project produced by the late Syrian director Hadem Ali days before his death. Historical feature, workshop of experts and researchers in history.

Abdul Rahman Al-Yamani about the moment he met the late director Hatem Ali; who asked to meet him about his role in the work, he entered him and told him very spontaneously, “I love you, my mother loves you, my father loves you, the whole Arab world loves you, so your works are still there, we have grown in your series,” He described his meeting with the late director as a moment.

The series features a large number of actors from Saudi Arabia and the Arab world, including Abdul Rahman Al Yamani, Abed Fahd, Anas Tayara, Wissam Fares, Bayo Shehan, Moyad Al Thaghafi, Mila Al Jahrani, Khaled Yaslam and Hind Muhammad. .

As for the scenes in the city of Istanbul, MBC said in a previous press release that the series’ Medina scenes were filmed in a 25,000-square-meter city specially built to simulate the events. Built on an area of ​​about 20,000 square meters. , scenes of battles and fronts in Siberia and the Caucasus, as well as other scenes filmed in Damascus and Beirut. Director Alejandro Toledo handled the battle scenes, action and crowd management, while director Ricardo Cruz handled the horse battles and crowd management.