Arabian Nights (1974)

A bawdy and joyous adaptation of a few of the Arab folk-tails commonly known as One Thousand and One Nights.

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When it was originally released in the early/mid-70's Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Trilogy of Life" (The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales and Arabian Nights) was meant as a celebration of humanity via the bodily functions we have in common. Taro Gomi got it right with the title to the classic children's book Everyone Poops. An alternate title for these films could easily have been: Everyone Pees, Poops, Farts and Has Sex. But as cool and hippie as this message was for its time, I would argue that it is even more important now. Since 9/11, anti-Muslim/anti-Arab sentiment has been at record highs. Conservative media and religious leaders add to this by spending so much time detailing the sundry ways in which the two cultures are different. It's much easier to hate someone you feel you have nothing in common with. During The Cold War we had The Reds to serve as the exotic "other" to be feared, now it's Muslims. Too bad Arabian Nights is rated NC-17, I think prudish, ignorant hate-mongers would really get something out of it. They'd finally learn the simple fact that everyone poops, everyone pees, everyone farts, everyone has sex, and (most importantly) everyone loves.