As well as being an enjoyable historical drama, this German movie made in English brought to life one of those major changes in the ebb & flow of civilisation. Up to the mid-medieval period, the Islamic world had been the torch bearers of scientific progress, with access to the works of the ancient Greeks and others. But a point came when the mullahs in Persia and elsewhere succeeded in stifling that and plunging their world back into darkness, from which it is still struggling to emerge. It was at this time that the torch of progress passed to the emerging nations of Europe, flowing through the Renaissance and into the Age of Enlightenment. This movie managed to distill that work of centuries into one lifetime like a little morality play.
