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This is an amazing film. It has to be up there with "City of God" and "Pixote" (Brazil), "At- The Horse" (Turkey), "Saalam Bombay" (India) and "Amores Perros" (Mexico) as well as the American documentary "Streetwise" as one of the best contemporary movies about poverty and the social repression and horrors it brings to its subjects. The film is engrossing, captivating, disturbing and harrowing on many levels. The film is also a remarkable fusion of Godard, gangster films and "Arabian Nights." A shocking thing happens to the film's title character at the outset of the film, and we are transported into a world that is both enchating and perilous as if we are traveling with Sinbad across the 7 seas. Alas, this is no fantasy and we are reminded of that all too suddenly and it is a power that haunts the viewer as the final credits roll. The film also reminds one of our great independent filmmakers, like Spike Lee and Jim Jarmusch in terms of applying simplicity to brilliant and stark primary and secondary characters thus allowing a documentary feel to float with the narrative. Alas, when one is from Morroco as this filmmaker is, it usually takes two or three major efforts like this before you are recognized as being a cinematic genius. One of the best African films I've seen, along with "Quartier Mozart" from Cameroon, and certainly worth one's time.
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