1194. Ali Zaoua

Ali Zaoua
2000
Directed by Nabil Ayouch

This was a difficult film to track down. I was interested in seeing a Moroccan movie, but I knew not to expect a comedy or any kind of light-hearted fare. I was actually quite pleased to see that this film falls under the category of magic realism, which is a genre I love to read. 

At the beginning of the film, it's established that four boys have left a large street gang of children to do their own thing. They are confronted by the gang they abandoned, and unfortunately, nobody breaks into song and dance numbers. Instead, somebody throws a rock and one of the boys, Ali Zaoua, is killed. The other three boys launch an Antigone style crusade to give him a proper funeral.

My favorite parts of this movie were the magic realism bits, when the boys would let their imagination run wild. But for the most part, the pacing was a bit slow, and I don't necessarily think it was worth the trouble to take to find it.

If you ever come across this movie, you might enjoy it. But you probably won't see this pop up on Netflix anytime soon.

 

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

In 1785, Benjamin Franklin was the richest person in the United States. Okay, I know that has nothing to do with this movie, but I couldn't find anything.