Marrakech Inshallah by American-born director Steffen Pierce easily brings viewers to tears as it narrates the rather poor condition of an African child in Morocco. He embarks on street-fighting and goes through hell. Let us read the ins-and-outs of this documentary.
Africiné: Why did you choose this rather ugly portrayal of the African child?
Steffen Pierce: I actually don't see the portrait of Aziz as unappealing in any way. I see the character of Aziz as strong, independent, single minded, without self pity and with a very realistic attitude towards his circumstances. In actual fact, my brother and I when we were planning the production of Marraketch Inshallah made a point of constructing the scenes in such a way that Aziz would not appear as a victim. To me Aziz redeems himself through his inner dignity and his love for his older brother Hammadi.
The independence that we tried to represent in the character of Aziz came directly from the many young men we met while making Marrakech Inshallah. For example Abdel Ben Nasser who did the voice over for Marrakech Inshallah, was a young man eleven years old, supporting his mother and two brothers by selling newspapers. I met him in the small town of Ksiba in the Atlas Mountains and hired him to do the voice over because he had a wonderful speaking voice. He is not an actor, and the fact that at eleven years of age he was supporting his mother and two brothers impressed me deeply. These are the kinds of individuals who inspired the character of Aziz while we were filming Marrakech Inshallah.
Personally, If I am to use your term, I think the ugly portrayals that occur in cinema every year, are the portrayals of human drama that have very little or nothing to do with the way people actually live. I still have faith in the ability of film to transform and inspire. A film like Djibril Diop Mambety's, The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun is a very tough little film about Africa, but I don't think in any way it is a depressing portrait of African realties, anymore than Ousmane Sembene's film Moolaadé is a negative portrait. I would like to believe that filmmaking that reflects reality actually inspires more hope in an audience than films that simply deal in commercial fantasies. Obviously there is a middle ground and there are no hard fast rules regarding the decisions a director has to make when creating a film, but I think film audiences are much more resilient and perceptive than we are led to believe.
Africiné: Don't you think many can criticize you for consolidating the Western world's view on the Black continent?
S.P.:This is a completely appropriate question and I will try to answer as best as I can. I would hope that the portrait of Aziz in the film is compelling enough that any viewer regardless of their country of origin would see the humanity and dignity first and realize that the circumstances that Aziz finds himself in are not specific to Africa.
Poverty, rural migration, the influence of Western media and Western consumer values on the poor, are phenomenon that are affecting nations all over the world. Hopefully the intelligent viewer will take away from viewing Marrakech Inshallah the idea that although life can be difficult on the streets of Marrakech, these same streets are full of generous individuals. Maybe my tastes are not in tune with the times, but I find films like The Bicycle Thief and La Strada to be optimistic films, even though they deal with poverty and human suffering. I think there is something therapeutic in seeing films like Moolaadé or The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun precisely because these films consider human reality as it is, not as we would like it to be, and hopefully by confirming that reality, viewers understand that they are not alone, and that life is by its very nature difficult. I guess my personal view is that the much of the entertainment film industry avoids dealing with real issues because if you actually repeatedly presented audiences with realities they recognize, these same audiences would eventually want to change that reality. So I think there is a political element that partially explains why the majority of films are constructed as they are. Secondly I think a large percentage of film entertainments are essentially extended product ads. Talented actors and actresses are outfitted in name brand clothing, driving expensive cars, all with the added benefit that many viewers will buy these products at some point in the future. So this is a very extended answer to your question, but yes I think that reality is something that the cinema should embrace not avoid, regardless of whether that reality is taking place in Africa, Europe or the US. If we say that reality is too depressing to be depicted in the cinema, we have already stepped away from the possibility of real change and moved closer to an inevitable institutionalized cynicism.
Africiné: Why was Marrakech Inshallah banned in the United States of America?
S.P.:Marrakech Inshallah was never banned in the United States. I think when we spoke at the Rotterdam Film Festival what I was saying was that I thought it was very unlikely that Marrakech Inshallah would play on American television, not because of the content of the film, but rather because the film is in Arabic and subtitled. Very few subtitled films are broadcast on American television.
Africiné: You made a heart-breaking film. Some may claim it is too emotional. What do you have to say about this?
S.P.: Thank you for the complement. I'm glad you respond to Aziz's story on that level, that was the intention. The characters of our two main actors, Aziz and Hammadi, played by Aziz Raddad and Hammadi Raddad are a composite of many young men we met in Morocco. I am fascinated by directors like Fellini and Rossellini who very often preferred to cast non actors in their films, they felt that non actors brought an accuracy and an emotion to film that very often a professional couldn't. When we were looking for a non actor to play the role of Hammadi, we were actually inspired by the character of Ali La Pointe, in the film Battle of Algiers, as portrayed by Brahim Hagiag. The character of Hammadi was directly inspired by the persona and energy of Ali la Pointe, a cinematic performance that I have never forgotten.
Africiné: The journey from the village to the city of Marraketch serves nopurpose as young Aziz keeps on going through hell. Are you advising Africans not to embark on unplanned journeys?
S.P.: No I am not, however, I remember traveling on a train through Senegal, and meeting three young men from Burkina who were on their way to Europe, they asked me to draw them a map, they had nothing, no money, probably no passports, but they were determined. Something about that optimism and determination was very compelling, and I tried to put that spirit into Marrakech Inshallah. This spirit may be impractical, maybe even misguided, or even inappropriate some of the time, but it is still the human spirit, and it seems to me there is great optimism and dignity in that spirit. Maybe that sheer optimism is what we need to help us overcome the world wide problems we face today. This rural exodus is called migration on a larger scale.
Africiné: Any connection between both concepts?
S.P.: We know that there are thousands of economic migrants moving North through Africa towards the Straits of Gibraltar, or traveling in poorly constructed boats towards the Canary Islands in hopes of finding a better life. This reality is only referred to indirectly in Marrakech Inshallah when Aziz mentions that Hammadi probably went to France. And also again indirectly in the last scene where Hammadi is wearing a baseball cap with Gibraltar written across the front. When we were shooting Marrakech Inshallah there were hundreds of these caps being sold all over Marrakech. I found this to be somewhat ironic historically, because Gibraltar is actually the European translation of an original Arabic term, which means the mountain of Altar (Jbel Altar).
Altar was the Berber general who conquered Andalusia during the Arab conquest of Spain, so these migrations have been moving back and forth across the Mediterranean for centuries.
Africiné: The ending is wide open. It gives room for unanswered questions. Any explanation?
S.P.: I prefer films where the ending is left unresolved, as a matter of fact. I'm very suspicious of films that take the other road, tying up everything neatly in a package. I guess I don't believe anything can be resolved in a mere ninety minutes. Even Berlin Alexander Platz, a thirteen hour film doesn't have a neatly resolved happy ending.
Africiné: Did you have any trouble shooting in Morocco?
S.P.: Like any feature film, the filming of Marrakech Inshallah had its full complement of production problems. One of the main challenges shooting the exteriors in Marrakech was the fact that we always had to work very quickly. If we took too long, a large crowd would form around us and it would be impossible to film anything. So we got in the habit of working fast. To avoid attracting a crowd, very often we would use a telephoto lens and work from a distance filming our actors moving through the markets of Marrakech. In this sense Marrakech Inshallah contains many moments that are really documentary in spirit. The scene in Marrakech where Aziz is watching a boxing match taking place in the Djemal Fnah is all documentary footage. So in these instances using a very small crew, as well as relying on our experience shooting non-fiction films helped. We were able to respond to visual opportunities as they arose and incorporate them into the narrative, which is the way you have to work when you are filming a documentary.
Télesphore MBA BIZO
