'A Mile with My Shoes' won the audience admiration in the Carthage Festival Film

The Moroccan film ‘A Mile with My Shoes’ gained the admiration of the seventh art lovers when it was screened in the Carthage Festival Film. The film competed for the first work award which was clear from the interaction and praise from the attendees.

The film director, Said Khallaf, which his film is nominated to represent Morocco on the Oscar of 2017 expressed his happiness for screening his first film in such a great festival and with the audience admiration.

Khallaf noted the artistic components of the film which is not limited to the dramatic story, but it is extended to the plot through the overlapping of time, the cinematic narration, the professional photography, and the professional actors are all factors that contributed to this great movie.

The film ‘A Mile with My Shoe’ which Amine Ennaji and Noufissa Benchahida played its principle roles talk about street children, family disintegration, and violence against women through the story of a young man, said, who spent most of his childhood in one of the poorest streets in Casablanca fighting to live a decent life away from criminal world in a community that have no mercy for his kind of people.

Said Khalaf film won many awards locally or internationally, and it is nominated to represent Morocco for a foreign film Oscar. 

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‘The Rif Lover’ by Narjiss Nejjar

The film is based on Noufissa Sbaï’s novel with the same name in French. Narjiss Nejjar continues her mother aim and moves it from fiction to cinema contributing alongside her mother in the liberation movement of women from the cultural restriction and boundaries.

The film tells the story of a young and beautiful woman Aya (Nadia Kounda) who refused to give up her dreams against family orders and social norms. Aya longs to live a passionate love, yet she is confronted by a restricting reality and betrayed by her own kin.

Aya lives with her mother (Nadia Niazi) and two brothers Ahed (Fahd Benchemsi) and Hafid (Lotfi Omar) while her never-seen father is working in Spain as fisherman. To support the family the brothers work for a hashish trafficker, and, to gain more from the Baron, Ahed gives up his sister as an offering to the Baron to receive land instead. This action sets off turmoil between Hafid who objects his brother move and reminds him that honor is priceless.

Aya’s fantasized world that she shared with her best friend Radia (Ouidad Elma) collapses after she lost her virginity. Radia gets jealous of her friend and steal the barons money, and when he tries punish her, she attempts to suicide. The baron flees the country while Aya is indicted of trying to kill her friend.

The prison experience seems for Aya a more freer than the family house and despite her mother’s attempts to marry her, she refuses to give up her wishes and chooses to end her life because life for her is only what she dreamt of and desired for.

In this film, Narjiss Nejjar maintains her loyalty to her cause that she raises in almost all her movies which is women liberation from the patriarchal society that crashes women under a siege of restricting codes.

Director: Narjiss Nejjar

Cast: Nadia Kounda, Mourade Zeguendi, Ouidad Elma, Nadia Niazi, Fehd Benchemsi, Omar Lotfi 

Released: 2011                                                                                        

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‘Days of glory’ by Rachid Bouchareb

‘Days of glory’ is a war movie about the North-Africans who are recruited to liberate France from the Germen’s occupation. The name of the film is translated ironically in English-speaking world as ‘Days of Glory’ while in reality it is ‘Indigenes’ which means natives. The film highlights the unfair treatment to those African soldiers and how they were used, exploited and segregated.

The film starts with the recruitment of the Arab soldiers especially in Morocco and Algeria 1943 though the both countries are being colonized by France. The African troops contributed in the invasion of Italy and the liberation of mainland France.

Said (Jamal Debbouze), Messaoud (Roschd yem) , Yassir (Samy Naceri) and Corporal Abdelkader are all African recruits that choose to fight for France with different reasons per each of them. The troops meet Sergeant Martinez who trains them before leading them to their first mission. The troops are used as a fire shield as they are sent to defend a heavily defended mountain from the German. Even if they succeed to capture the mountain, the mission results a high casualties among the colonial troops.

The troops are transported via ships to France so as to defend the south of France. While abroad the ship, a French cook refuses to give a black soldiers tomatoes; and Abdelkader protests and calls for equality since all the soldiers are defending the same country.  When they arrive at Marseille, the troop are welcomed warmly; and Messaoud falls in love with a white French women called Irene who promises to wait for him. After that, Irene never knew the fate of Messaoud due to military censorship of litters between Arab soldiers and French women.

Abdelkader is reprimanded by the Colonel for his mutiny; and Colonel asks him to take ammunition to American soldiers in Alsace and promises him good rewards and recognition. Most of the troop are killed except Martinez  who injured badly in a bomb trap. Said, Yassir and Messaoud want to go back after they lost most of the ammunition, but Abdelkader rallied them to go on in their mission which will accomplish their purposes if they succeed. A German troop attack them and Abdelkader watches his friends dying one after the other; then, the French back up troops arrive.

Abdelkader tries to talk to the Colonel , the latter ignores him and a Sergeant ordered Abdalkader to follow the troops.

The film ends with a statement which said that the pension of serviceman from the former colonies is frozen and they stopped to receive it since 1959.

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‘Zero’ by Nour EddineLakhmari

 ‘Zero’ is a distinguished film which is written and directed by NourEddineLakhmari. The film tackles serious issues daringly- prostitution, alcohol, and corruption. It has also received more than 30 several awards inside or outside the country.

‘Zero’ tells the story of a cop, Amine Bartal, who is nicknamed Zero (YounesBouab), and the conflicts that he encounters within his context. AmineBartal is corrupted cop that uses a young prostitute (Mimi) to swindle her clients their money. Bartal’s superior is another corrupt man who protects a big luxury prostitution network that exploits young girls. Zero is harassed and belittled by his superior because he refuses to succumb and cooperate with his corrupted friends.

Zero fancies a doctor; yet this love has no ground in reality and that’s what he knows clearly. Then, a women looking for her daughter would invoke Zero to revolt against everything and save her daughter whom he knows that she is abducted by the prostitution network.

Lakhmari keeps the same critic tune of his previous film ‘Casanegra’, and ‘zero’ sheds light on another sphere of the society. He also tresses the fact that corruption contributes to the spread of other issues such us prostitution.  Though the movie is shocking as many claimed, Lakhmari considers his film as a treatment with shock.

Director: NourEddineLakhmari.

Genre: Drama.

Cast: YounesBouab, Mohamed Majd, Zineb Samara….

Release: 2012

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‘Casanegra’ by Nour Eddine Lakhmari

There are several movies that have been shot in Casablanca, and each movie tackles a certain facet of life in the metropolitan city. Regardless of that, today’s movie concerns itself only with the dark side in the city where far away from the city lights resides the wretched of the earth. Thus, Casablanca is only white for those who enjoy a decent life, but it is ‘casanegra’ for Karim (Anas Elbaz) and Adil ( Omar Lotfi).

Karim and Adil are close friends in their twenties, jobless, and welling to change their situation with a magical stick. Karim is trying to keep bone and flesh of his family including his retired ill father. Though, he is in love from afar with a classy and chic woman who seems to deepen his self-conscious of his situation. Otherwise, Adil’s dream is to go to Sweden with illegal paper to escape his miserable situation and save his mother from his psychopath stepfather.

These provocative conditions push the young men to work for a dealer, Zrirek (Mohamed Benbrahim). Adil seems enthusiastic about the job because he needs money to realize his dream, whereas Karim suspects Zrirek and he tries to dissuade Adil from working with him. Afterwards, the mission that Zrirek entrusts Adil and Karim failed and all their hopes fade away. `   

Nour Eddine Lakhmari brings out a forsaken world not only in Casablanca but the whole country. The people of this world are the menial workers who spend 8 hours standing for dozens of dirhams. Adil and karim are a good example of guys who are willing to work yet not in the same miserable and inhuman conditions.

Director: Nour Eddine Lakhmari

Genre: Drama

Cast: Anas Elbaz, Omar Lotfi, Mohamed Benbrahime, Ghita Tazi, Driss Roukhe…

Release: 2008

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‘Whatever Lola Wants’ by Nabil Ayouch

'Whatever Lola Wants' is a trans-cultural movie which is shot in America, Morocco, and Egypt. The movie follows a dream of a girl across continents to learn belly dancing. The name of the film has its roots in the entertainment dancing world. It is a popular song inspired by the ‘Spanish dancer’ LolaMontez’s saying.

Lola (Laura Ramsey) is an American dancer who gets inspired by oriental dancing through her Egyptian gay friend and coworker Yussef (Achmed Akkabi). Lola works a part time job in a post delivery and in a restaurant as a entertainer and waitress. She meets Zak (Assaad Bouab) whom she delivers litters every day and who is also from Egypt. Lola falls in love with Zak but he leaves her back to Egypt when he knows about her dream of being a dancer. After that, she decides to go Egypt to look for Zak and learn belly dancing from a real teacher. Zack does not welcome her properly and she discovers that he engaged to his cousin. Then Lola starts off looking for her inspiring dancer Ismahan (Carmen Lebbos) who at first refuses to teach her but agrees later. Lola realizes that Ismahan stops dancing because of an adulterous accusation that separate her from her husband. However, Lola keeps on learning becomes a celebrity belly dancer in Egypt and dedicates her success to her teacher Ismahan.

The film ‘Whatever Lola wants’ gathers cast from different countries (America, Morocco, Egypt, and Lebanon) to strengthen the idea of the film which corrects some misunderstandings of different aspects such as dancing and its bad connotation in the Arab world. Besides, Lola does nor learn a lot about the Egyptian culture, yet she manages to win people’s hearts with her cheerful and passionate spirit.

Director: Nabil Ayouch

Genre: Romantic drama

Release: 2007

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‘they are the dogs’ by HichamLasri

Here we continue our journey with another film ‘The are The dogs’ written and produced by the Moroccan director and scriptwriter HichmaLasri. The film is shot by a follow camera, and the motion and shakiness of the camera lend the film a taste of documentary.

The film is about a TV crew who are looking for an interesting story in the light of the turmoil that the country witnesses in the eve of the Arab Spring. Among protestors, they find an amnesiac man who has just been released from 30 years prison after he was arrested in the uprising events on 1981, and now he is looking for his family.The playful crew manage to help the man who, doesn’t remember his name. Thus, they resolve to bring together the pieces of the anonymous man story. At the end of the film, the crew succeed to find the family, but the welcoming is so cold to the prisoner father who accepts the matter since he admits that he was not a good father and husband.

The film criticizes media, especially TV, and the way how it distorts reality. The film highlights many questions, but it answers none; thosequestions are for the audience to introspect, instead. Freedom of speech, political violence, and social justiceare concepts that span between the past and the future interposed with citizens’misery.

Direcror: HichamLasri

Genre: Drama

Realease: 2014

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‘Much loved’ by Nabil Ayouch

This is the third film that I have worked on by Nabil Ayouch after ‘Ali Zaoua’ and ‘Horses of God’. Ayouch has a special approach in dealing with social issues in each of his movies. He mainly thinks out of the box when it comes to dealing with the story as if you are watching real events through the frames of a TV box.

In today’s film, the story arouses too much criticism and contempt within the general audience who consider the work to be merely a pornographic film.  Apart from that, Nabil Ayouch has another point of view and he succeeds to convey it to the audience and the chaos that his movie creates proves that. 

Sometimes, it is hard to tell people about reality; yet, it is necessary to unveil reality when it comes to the suffering of people. Ayouch, as he used to do in all his movies, is faithful to the issues which he deals with; despite the fact that prostitution is an enormous phenomenon. 

The film is about three prostitutes: Noha (Loubna Abidar), Randa (Asma Lazrak), and Soukaina (Hakima Karaouane ). The film records as much as possible the prostitution life of the three women. Once you watch such film, you will reconsider many ideas about prostitutes who are looked down in our society.

This time I choose not to summarize the film's story because everything is clear. Besides, the message that i absoreb from the film is that every human being is good by nature and never choose to be bad , but the environment and coincidence draw lines of their future that may follow unconsciously. Thus, one should not judge. People should always respect the harshness others undergo.

Director: Nabil Ayouch
Genre: Drama
Release: 2015

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