Ali Zaoua
Review by Oumaima Fathi
Review by Abby Hawkins
The Short:
Ali Zaoua is a Moroccan crime drama film about the life of homeless boys in the city of Casablanca. It was directed by Nabil Ayouch in 2000. Based loosely on Mohamed Choukri’s For Bread Alone, Ali Zaoua follows three homeless Moroccan youth in their pursuits to hold a funeral for their friend, the titular Ali Zaoua.
The Long:
The film Ali Zaoua shows the pain of extreme poverty, homelessness, prostitution, and child abuse in Moroccan society. The story revolves around four homeless and uneducated boys under the age of 15 who became independent from a group of pickpockets. Omar, Boubker, Kwita, and Ali struggle to escape an atrocious reality and look for a better life. Ali’s dream was to become a sailor and travel to the miracle island with two suns that his mother told him about. The ending is tragic and far from what the four friends hoped for. The film Ali Zaoua was awarded 2000 Stockholm Film Festival, Amiens International Film Festival, and Montreal World Film.
Set on the streets of Casablanca, 15-year-old Ali Zaoua tells his friend Kwita of his plans to leave the city to become a cabin boy on a ship. Soon after divulging his plans, Ali Zaoua is accidentally killed by a member of the gang he and his friends were formerly affiliated with. Kwita, along with their two friends Omar and Boubker, arranges to properly bury their friend, whom they declare several times to have been “a prince.” Director Nabil Ayouch’s film combines fantastical elements reflecting the children’s daydreams of becoming sailors with the harsh reality of their lives on the port side of Casablanca, depicting poverty, abuse, prostitution, and desolation endured by the boys and overlooked by most depictions of Moroccan society.
To watch or not to watch:
Yes, I would surely recommend this film! It is an eye-opening and heartbreaking film that depicts the reality of street children in some of the worst circumstances to exist.
Watch, but with tissues nearby. This film does not depict Casablanca in the common cosmopolitan, romantic light used to attract visitors to the city’s beaches and Mauresque architecture, The child protagonists’ unwavering loyalty to their late friend and gutsy adaptability to an environment that repeatedly chews them up and spits them out keeps the audience rooting hopefully for the three boys, even as the film delivers countless heart-wrenching emotional punches as they repeatedly face defeat. The ending of the film is hopeful but in a bittersweet way. If you need a good cry, this is the film for you.