CHAPTER 17
Owing to its desolate location, and cheap labor I assume, the oasis of Ourzazate has been used as a desert proxy by Hollywood for decades. From Star Wars, to the Gladiator, to Cleopatra, to the Game of Thrones (which we saw being filmed off in the distance), to my personal favorite, the Jewel of the Nile (do you recognize that jet fighter? – see the photos!). The biggest surprise was not that it was fake, but how fake it was! The whole place was a monstrous facade! Monumental palaces were no more than lath and plaster held up by sticks, and towering statues were just giant blocks of styrofoam! I suppose every movie set in the world is the same, but it definitely was a surprise to me that they could make it look so real with such flimsy building materials. In the end, I am glad we went, even if it did dispel some illusions from my favorite movies. Alas, isn’t all of life a veneer to some degree?
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