'Horses of God' by Nabill Ayouch

A commemoration of excruciating events

The film ‘Horses of God’ is a true story based on Mahi binebine’s novel ‘les étoile de Sidi Moumen’. The story is about the bombing of Casablanca in 2003 by 12 suicide bombers. Nabil tracks the life of three of suicide bombers for more than ten years. Through the movies, the focus is more on the three characters and the environment they live in rather than the ideology or fanaticism.

Yachine (Abdelhakim rachid) and his aggressive older brother Hamid (Abdelilah Rachid) struggle from their early age to help their mother and the family to survive. Then Hamid is caught in prison after he throws a stone on cops. Yachine suffers while working alone in the market, and he loves the neighborhood’s beautiful girl whom he never has the chance to meet alone.

After two years Hamid is released a devout believer. Afterwards, Yachine and his friend Nabil are affected by Hamid’s religiosity and they join his group of believers who prepare them with others for the mission of elevating Islam against disbelievers. Afterwards, these young guys turn into walking bombs in streets of Casablanca. Although Hamid tries to dissuade his brother, the latter is determined about the mission. Having said that, the bombing kills 45 people and wounds more than 100 others.

 Ayouch succeeds in his film to capture the process through which many factors intertwined to produce fanaticism such as poverty and illiteracy.

The film is released in 2014.