18

A number of times in the film, we hear chanting, singing (whatever it may be). At a key moment, when Bruce is ascending up and out of the prison, we learn what they are chanting is "rise."

What language are they speaking?

user5603
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stevvve
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  • The song makes no sense in the language spoken in Jodhpur, India, that's where the fortress is located. But it definitely is motivating, and might have led him to Rise! –  Aug 02 '12 at 21:34
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    Relevant: http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/21275/what-did-the-people-in-the-prison-chant – stevvve Aug 03 '12 at 20:03
  • By Moroccan, they meant Amazigh or Berber language, not Arabic. –  Aug 04 '12 at 17:30

2 Answers2

17

Deh-Shay Deh-Shay Bah-Sah-Rah is what they are chanting.

There are strong notions suggesting that it's Moroccan which translate to He Rises. He Rises. The guy in the movie says it means rise. I am guessing the chant is the motivation for the person to climb up which could literally mean "he rises" when the crowd are chanting.

This link also suggests that the language is Moroccan.

Dredd
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  • +1 Interesting. I'm gonna leave this open until there's some hard evidence. Was the prison in Morocco? Also, to my knowledge, despertar is the Spanish verb for 'rise,' with despierta being the actual word for it. – stevvve Jul 20 '12 at 13:29
  • whoever posted this long "dey-shey..." thing is probably deaf.There are only 2 words in the chanting. I distinctly hear first word as "asar-a or hasar-a" which is turkish/arabic for "wall". Please note that last letter of either word is "a" which add "onto" to the meaning ... Unfortunately second word is almost impossible to differentiate. Anybody has an idea what it is? –  Jul 22 '12 at 16:43
  • Listen to this if you think chant is not Deh-Shay Deh-Shay Bah-Sah-Rah http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-UsHfViOk8 – Dredd Jul 22 '12 at 18:40
  • The "second notion" is based on a completely incorrect premise, though. – Napoleon Wilson May 12 '15 at 17:19
  • good catch!! updated the answer – Dredd May 12 '15 at 21:53
10

They chanted like,

Dey-shey dey-shey Bah-sur-rah bah-sur-rah.

If we translate the chant to Hindi, which closely means,

"long live, long live".

I think, Nolan would've chosen that phrase because the pitfall/prison portrayed in the movie is Mehrangarh Fort, located in India. So, I guess Nolan would be using the Hindi chant.

Dredd
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Vijin Paulraj
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