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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
In Casablanca Angels Don't Fly
(Al Malaika la tuhaliq fi al-dar albayda)
(A Casablanca Les Anges Ne Volent Pas)
Film (2003) - 94 mins
Verdict: Broken dreams
London - ICA - 3-23 Sept 04
3 men from mountain villages seek a better life in modern Casablanca. Ultimately a tragedy, In Casablanca Angels Don't Fly follows their dreams to the point of collision with reality. Shot in Morocco, Arabic with English subtitles, the film has a taut story-line that's poignantly universal.
'Casablanca has made widows of Berber wives', says pretty Aicha (Leila El Ahyani)She resents husband Said (Rachid El Hazmir)'s departure to Casablanca to earn a living for their family. They have two sons (Karim Naciri, Anouar Naciri) - but after son Lahchen's birth, Aicha becomes seriously ill.
They live in snow-covered Oulad Lissa, a village in the Atlas Mountains. It's dying, unsustainable. As an old man remarks, 'There aren't any men left here - even to bury the dead.'
There's Hmed (Ali Achtouk), who runs to answer the village's mobile phone hung at the top of the mountain for reception. There's the Iman, who writes letters for everyone, as no-one else can write. There's Said's Mother (Fatima El Hadi), and a few other old women.
Said's only option is to work in Casablanca, send money back, and never see his family. He and Aischa communicate by letters, tape recordings and rare phone calls. He's trusted at work, head waiter in a restaurant whose Boss (Abderrazak El Badaoui) sits solidly at the cash register counting money and dispensing life-thoughts - 'A man with no money is worthless'.
Kitchen-worker Ottman (Abelaziz Essghyr)loves his horse. He loads sacks of dry bread onto Mustafa's bus back to his village for the horse. He remembers as a child of 10 (Anass Benabbad) riding out in full white robes with the senior tribesmen, each on a magnificent white horse with ceremonial saddle.
Ottman's mother (Naima Bouhmala) suggests he sell the horse. All the other horses in his village have been sold for meat - they're no longer needed. Finally she tells him that Caid wants his horse. Ottman determines to settle the matter permanently.
Waiter Ismail (Abdessamed Miftah El Kheir) longs for a pair of black boot shoes with zips at the side costing 1,200 dirhams - 3 months' wages. He fantasises that if he could own them, he'd be respected. He'd have a gorgeous wife. He'd be able to fly. Finally he buys them.
The destruction of each of the men's dreams is the story of the film.
Ismail's quest for happiness via shopping may find an understanding audience in London. He's shown as such a happy man, a good man, that the systematic way in which everything goes wrong for him seems unbearably cruel. As life can be, is the film's message.
The humiliation of Ottman's memories, and the impossibility of holding on to the past, make a sad vignette towards the end of the film.
The sight of his magnificent horse, with its handmade saddle and nervous but proud rider picking its way through the filthy rubbish-dumps of Casablanca are distressing both for the fact, and for what they symbolise for the man.
The ending of Said's story, shot in unmistakeably Biblical landscape, nods to the Good Samaritan. There's a faint echo too of the last frames of Midnight Cowboy.
Said's self-sacrifice, endurance and nobility - 'Forgive me, I wanted to give you a better future' / 'I know the wives of immigrants. I hope not to live their tragedy.' - are wasted. His despair, and the lack of hope for a future, are complete.
In Casablanca Angels Don't Fly works off a remarkable script by Siham Douguena. It's poetry, not in its words, but its mood. Each part of the story is both real and an allegory.
There's a remarkably strong contrast between the village and the city, which the atmosphere of the script largely creates. They are two separate worlds, with the regular journey of the bus or shared taxi taking not just the characters, but the audience, over the bridge between the two states.
The film is shot through with sharp reflections on humanity. 'Very rarely,' remarks a worker on a bus 'is the dignity of an immigrant not stepped on'. 'What riff-raff' is The Boss's universal comment on his staff.
'The bellies of the greedy shall burst', comments the story-teller - putting down the immigrants' longing for self-betterment. The old man of the film's closing scene wonders aloud how a society can be 'Afraid of the police and not of God?'
Roberto Meddi's photography creates islands out of each of the film's tiny stories. There's Ismail's shoe-fantasy, complete with rose-strewn wedding ceremony. The delivery of Ottman's bread is shown by a montage sequence shot from the roof of Mustafa's bus, bread bag in foreground.
The vastness and unfamiliarity of Hmed's first visit to Casablanca is brought to life by a dazzling montaged taxi-ride. Ottman's meeting with his mother and horse; the birth of Lahchen; the Iman's teaching of the children - are all shot with pure Renaissance composition and lighting.
There are strong central performances from
Rachid El Hazmir (Said), Abdessamed Miftah El Kheir (Ismail), Abelaziz Essghyr - (Ottman). Laila Oumani's costumes delight - her use of bright colour, against neutral, concrete, stone, snow and pastel backgrounds is immensely subtle.
Stephan Micus composes graceful fragments of music, on guitar and other instruments, that augment the action. Direction by Mohamed Asli is crisp and evocative; producing a gripping and disturbing story.
Cast Credits (programme order): Abdessamed Miftah El Kheir - Ismail. Abderrazak El Badaoui - Restaurant Owner. Rachid El Hazmir - Said. Leila El Ahyani - Aicha. Abelaziz Essghyr - Ottman. Ali Achtouk - Hmed. Naima Bouhmala - Ottman's Mother. Fatima El Hadi - Said's Mother. Jamal Bouhaddioui - Jamal. Mostapha Sabhi - Ami Ottman. Mohamed Tata - Story-teller. Said Boukdir - Muezzin. Anass Benabbad - Young Ottman. Brahim Marzaq - Taxi Driver. Hamid El Houadri - Salem. Karim Naciri - Said's Son. Anouar Naciri - Said's Son. Nabila Stailla - The Wife In The Dream.
Company Credits: (programme order): Director - Mohamed Asli. Script - Siham Douguena. Director of Photography - Roberto Meddi. Music - Stephan Micus. Editor - Raimondo Aiello. Set Decoration - Fettah Attaoui. Costume Designer - Laila Oumani. Make-Up - Driss M'Hamdi. Casting - Touria Abbasi. Sound - Mauro Lazzaro. Executive Producer - Thami Hejjaj. Production Director - Hamid Basket.
END
John Park
reviewed Friday 20 August 04 / Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA)
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
