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100% Arabica
1997, France/Belgium/Switzerland, 85 min., subtitles
Director: Mahmoud Zemmouri
Recognitions
Nominated for Golden Bayard for Best Film, Naumur, 1997
A favourite with film festival audiences, this delightful comedy is
named after a prominent neon sign in an overwhelmingly Arab suburb of
Paris. A light farce, it pokes fun at some of the more burning issues
in the world of Islam in a way that is probably no longer possible
since 9/11. Although, when the film was first released, the director
and Khaled, one of the stars, faced an official fatwa issued by France’s fundamentalist Young Muslim League. This resulted in
plummeting ticket sales and has no doubt contributed to this title
taking so long to be released.
The plot turns of the arrival of a new kind of music in the Arabica
quarter, one which sets everyone dancing. The two rival 'Kings of Rai,'
Rachid (Khaled), and Krimo (Cheb Mami) immediately meet with the
disapproval of Slimane, the local Mullah, who finds their music, their
general popularity, and their way with the local girls the work of the devil. Slimane finds an unlikely ally in the local Mayor who is obsessed with maintaining law and order on the streets — at least until
after the upcoming elections. The Mayor offers the Mullah a subsidy,
which will continue if he can keep people off the streets. At the same
time, Slimane turns out to also be collecting protection money from the neighbourhood’s businessmen under the guise of a fund to build a new
mosque. But the streets are peaceful — although not because of either
the Mullah or the Mayor, but because everyone’s dancing to the music.
This is a film which doesn’t take itself — or Islam — too seriously,
and whenever it bursts into song you’ll recognize the feel-good energy.
If you aren’t familiar with Rai, we suggest this delightful film as a
good introduction; and if you are, then just let your hair down and
dance!
Evil
2003, Sweden, 113 min., subtitles
Director: Mikael Håfström
Recognitions
Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, 2004; Robert Award for Best Non-American Film, 2005; Golden Goblet, Shanghai,
2004; FIPRESCI Prize, Viareggio, 2003.
Based on the autobiographical novel of the same name by Jan Guillou
A commentary on both class warfare and fascist oppression in its native Sweden, this is a film as blunt as its title. There is evil at work in the world, and it is bad.
Erik Ponti is a social misfit. From a working-class background in which his sadistic stepfather beat him repeatedly, he has become violent himself. This behaviour has led to his being expelled as “pure evil” from several schools. But Erik is smart and wants to graduate so now he’s a rebel with a cause, at a posh boarding-school in 1950s Sweden, with the injunction that if he’s expelled again, that’s it; game over.
At the exclusive Sjärnsberg school, where students listen to Charlie
Parker jazz records and have pointed discussions about Rebel Without A
Cause, Erik quickly shows himself to be the smartest pupil and excels
as a champion swimmer. He even finds a friend in his nerdy room-mate,
Pierre.
But evil is at work in the form of a long tradition of seniors bullying 'newbies' and a headmaster who turns a blind eye to these activities.
Only the swimming coach encourages Erik to hold on and rebel. Rich,
aristocratic prefect, Silverhielm, is “pure bully” and takes an
instant dislike to Erik. A graduated series of punishments for
disregarding the gang’s arbitrary rules leads eventually to Erik being
beaten. Not wanting to be expelled, Erik endures it all, until Pierre becomes the focus of the bullies’ attentions. And so, Erik finally
snaps and takes his revenge ….
This is not a nice film but it is a very good one, tightly structured
and well-acted. As it explores how easy it is for systems of privilege
to list towards tyranny, the film alternates between entertaining us
and making us feel ethically uneasy. It’s an all too human situation,
but one we don’t like to examine so usually lock away somewhere in the
dark recesses of our minds. Ruthless teenage pecking orders may be
hard-wired into society, but the boundary separating playful
humiliation from life-threatening sadism has been seen time and again
to be extremely thin. What happens then; And is it unavoidable? This
film will make you think.
The Boys of Baraka
2005, USA, 84 min., documentary
Directors: Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
Recognitions
Best Documentary at: Chicago, Atlanta and Newport, 2005; Audience Award at both Silverdocs and Woodstock, 2005; Outstanding
Independent or Foreign Film, Image Awards, 2006
Baraka means blessings, but in this case it’s the blessings of a
school, The Baraka School in Kenya, which has been set up to change the
lives of inner-city school children in Baltimore, Maryland.
Founded in
1996 on a 150-acre ranch where there is no television or full-time
electricity, it offers academic instruction and strict but gentle
discipline in a two-year program that has a high success rate.
In the film, we follow four of the 20 at risk 12 and 13-year old black male students who are transported 10,000 miles to find a better
chance at a life. A straight-talking recruiter has told them and their
parents that they basically have three choices: jail, death or graduate
from high school.
Despairing families embrace the idea of this strange
school in Africa, because nothing could be worse than the inner-city life that is open to their children, one in which they are essentially 'throw-aways.'
During their first year away from home the four visibly flourish, and
then tragedy hits. Because of regional politics and threats to its
security, the school must suspend operations. With a sickening thud,
the boys find that the horizons that had so recently broadened come
crashing back in on them.
The filmmakers then follow the four into the
future, showing how they deal with their disappointment, but try to
make the best of the year they had. This is social change on the most
basic level. We hope this film will be an inspiration to governments as
well as to individual people who want to transform impoverished violent
neighbourhoods: there are other things to build to help than a new
jail.
Page Two of Angela Pressburger's June DVD Reviews>>
