"I wasn't allowed here when I was young," recalls Bashir, a lanky Berber villager with just a hint of premature gray in his chin stubble. "Only the adults would come, to talk each week. But now I am here every day, trying to make a living."
Working in this isolated southern Tunisian village, Bashir has the good fortune to run the only souvenir shop inside the ancient ksar -- a fortified adobe granary built by his Berber ancestors centuries ago. I'm reminded of Taos Pueblo in New Mexico, due to the cracks in the mud brick and the cracks forming in my chapped lips.
There's something other-worldly about this place -- other-worldly, yet familiar. For that, we can thank George Lucas.
Ksar Ouled Soltane is in the heart of Star Wars territory. Nearly 30 years ago, when Lucas began scouting locations for Luke Skywalker's home planet, he stumbled upon the exotic landscapes and alien architecture of southern Tunisia. A dry, barren place where Berber tribes have eked out an existence for generations in hilltop adobe forts and underground troglodyte homes, the area provided Lucas with so many filming opportunities that he named Luke's planet after one of its few cities -- the old French garrison town of Tataouine.
Southern Tunisia is ground zero for Star Wars pilgrimages. It's been featured in almost all the Star Wars films, from Luke Skywalker's house to the disco cantina where we first met Han Solo and the slave quarters of Mos Espa. Locals even wear Obi-Wan Kenobi-like robes.
For villagers like Bashir, the local notoriety has translated into a steady job. The stream of tour buses coming to Ksar Ouled Soltane ensures that he can sell enough mint tea and watercolors painted by his disabled brother to support his family. Average income in Tunisia is around $2,070 a year, according to a 2003 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
"I have no other income," he says. "I rely on these visitors to survive."
Today was a good day for Bashir; it's the low season, but a caravan of Italian tourists just paid a brief visit. In many ways, his village is fortunate: the ksar is one of the best-preserved granaries in the country, so even tourists with no interest in the movies come to photograph the site.
Yet with few restaurants and no hotels in town, it's basically drive-by tourism: buses come, tourists snap pictures, buses go. Meanwhile, most of the village men sit in the shade with little to do.
The stakes are high as the Podracer of Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) jumps ahead of one operated by his arch-nemesis. (AP Photo/HO/Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM.)
Even the Star Wars crew didn't linger long when they shot scenes for "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" in 1997. "It was very fast," Bashir recalls. "I was studying that day. They came in and out - I missed it."
"But at least you've seen the movie?" I asked.
"I haven't seen movies," he replied.
"The Star Wars movies?"
"Any movies."
Director George Lucas shares his thoughts with R2-D2 and actor Jake Lloyd. (AP Photo/HO/Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM.)
An hour's drive west of the ksar, it's a similar story in the village of Matmata. With soaring summer temperatures and frigid winters, the local Berbers seek refuge living underground.
Scattered across Matmata are giant circular pits carved out of the limestone hills, often 20 or 30 feet deep. These are the main courtyards of underground homes, around which radiate cavernous passageways leading to individual rooms. For tourists used to McMansions and suburban split-level ranches, it's as alien as you can get -- the perfect place for Luke Skywalker to call home.
While most of the pit homes are closed to visitors, some will let you visit if you pay a donation of a few dinars. But the main reason people come to Matmata is to stay at the Sidi Driss Hotel -- a zero-star, no frills kind of place that served as the "Lars Homestead," home to Luke Skywalker, his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru.
Looking down at the hotel from the edge of the pit, it's instantly recognizable from the first movie. I found myself unable to resist yelling out "Luke! Lu-uke!" in a bad falsetto imitation of Aunt Beru, as my Tunisian friend Marouen (not a big Star Wars fan) shook his head skeptically.
For about $12 a person, we got to spend the night at the Sidi Driss. I'd expected it would be packed with Star Wars uber-geeks. Being the low season, though, I had a room of seven beds to myself, not counting the resident dung beetle. It wasn't exactly luxury accommodations, but my private limestone cave performed marvelously insulating the 40-degree chill outdoors, even though my door had a four-inch gap around the top.
During daylight hours, the Sidi Driss is the busiest place in Matmata. I woke up to the sound of Japanese tourists climbing around the courtyard, shooting video and examining the remaining Star Wars props embedded in the walls. Standing in the courtyard pits at night, though, there's no sign of life. You might as well be on a desert planet.
Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) shares a tender moment with his mother, Shmi (Pernilla August) in "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace." (AP Photo/HO/Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM.)
It seemed almost criminal to stay at the Sidi Driss without seeing a Star Wars film. Fortunately, I brought along some DVDs and managed to find a room off of the courtyard with an electrical socket. The dozen or so guests at the hotel huddled on benches, cheering each time the Lars Homestead appeared on screen, arguing over who was actually staying in Luke's room. (My room was a moisture vaporator storage shed, I'm told.)
Once or twice the hotel staff popped in to watch and chat with Marouen.
"They wanted to know if we were watching Star Wars," Marouen told me later. "They've never seen it."
Surprised that people working at Luke Skywalker's house hadn't seen the movie, I offered to show it again the next morning. The night staff didn't show up, though. They had to work their second job instead.
Find it online:
Lars Homestead (Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru)
Andy Carvin is director of the Digital Divide Network, a global community of Internet activists.
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