Ali Zaoua
by Nabil Ayouch
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Abdelhak Zhayra, Amal Ayouch, Mounim Kbab, Mustapha Hansali, Sa??d TaghmaouiDirector: Nabil Ayouch
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Arabic (Original Language); French (Original Language); Arabic (Unknown); English (Subtitled)
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 99 minutes
Published: 2003
DVD Release Date: 2005-01-01
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Film Movement
Movie Reviews of Ali Zaoua
Movie Review: The Real Casablanca
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an incredibly moving portrait of the life of homeless children on the streets of Casablanca. I first saw this four years ago at an Arab Film Festival, and just now watched it again, for the first time after living in Casablanca for three years, learning the culture and language. While I question the complete accuracy of some of the translation, the main message comes across correctly, showing us the real Casablanca.
That other movie by the name- it has nothing to do with reality. Nice movie, but it's done on a soundstage in Hollywood. Honestly, there should be a clue when the moving moment in the movie is when there's a battle between the German and French national anthems- and no mention of the Moroccan anthem. If you want to see a movie of what life is like in Morocco, I'd recommend Hideous Kinky. If you want to see what life is like in Casablanca, I'd recommend this one.
There are many beautiful places in Morocco. Casablanca's not one of them. It's a large, gritty city of six million. The best thing it has going for it are the unofficial three million poor living in shanty towns- for there is great opportunity in Casablanca to care for the poor and work with them. This movie vividly describes their plight- and the poorest of the poor who don't even have a roof over their heads. There are truly children everywhere, begging when the taxi pulls up, sniffing glue, and looking for food. Unique among major Arab cities, Casablanca truly does support two red light districts. This is a hard movie. There are scenes in it you never want to see again- and made all the worse because they are reality.
There is also poignant joy in the movie, interspersed wit magical realism and simple animation showing the hope the children create for themselves in the midst of squalor and evil. Even without glue they find moments to laugh at. Nabil Ayouch, the director, scored a coup in using actual street kids for performances, one of whom (the soccer player) went on to star in the most popular Moroccan sitcoms, like Laila Fatima. It gives greater veracity to the ups and downs of their lives. At times the soccer player breaks out into song, using the national anthem with new words of simple love. The joy in cora, soccer, and the support for that greatest of Casablanca teams, Raja, is palpable. Soccer brings the moments of greatest bliss in the movie, where the soccer player brings a smile that can light up the entire block. This is true Casablanca. In three years, the happiest I ever saw men on the street is when Morocco advanced to the Finals of the Africa Cup.
This movie is filled with awfulness, for it is too true, too real. It is about the hardship of life. And finding the small parts of good, even if you have to imagine them. In Moroccan Arabic, Raja means "Hope".
Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People
Summary of Ali Zaoua
Ali, Kwita, Omar, and Boukber are a group of street urchins living on the hard streets of Casablanca. Their everyday lives are filled with violence, begging, and indifference. In order to survive they create a bond of friendship and family between then. The bond is cut short when Ali is senselessly killed at the beginning of the film by a blow to the head; his life taken by a single act of a rival gang. Ali's friends decide not to report his death to the police, who would have the boy buried in a potter's field. Instead they decide to give him a worthy burial, to bury Ali on the private island he so often dreamed of. Ali Zaoua captures the power of dreams and presence of hope in the harshest of circumstances.Art House & International DVD Video
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