2013 ‘L'Armée du Salut’ Directed by Abdellah Taïa
Abdellah is a young gay man navigating the sexual, racial and political climate of Morocco. Growing up in a large family in a working-class neighborhood, Abdellah is caught between a distant father, an authoritarian mother, an older brother whom he adores and a handful of predatory older men, in a society that denies his homosexuality.
No plot, just vibes.
Did I like those vibes?
Uhm... I'm not sure.
🏳️🌈 Queer Film Challenge 2022 Movie #17/45
🌟 Task 31. An African queer film
I finally watched this film after anticipating it for so long after reading the book some time ago. Not that I was so surprised, since Abdellah Taia was directing the film, but the film reflected so accurately the moods and feelings I had felt and experienced while reading the short novella that astonishingly unfolded such immense sensual beauty, intense quiet power and deep turbulent emotions in such minimalist and sparse contexts.
The book and film cover the period of Abdellah Taia's life from young teenager in Morocco to young adult in Geneva, Switzerland. The film reveals the complex desires and emotions of a young teenager who is discovering his homosexuality in the midst of an environment that prohibits its public…
Tears Don't Lie
"Free. I'm free of you." Tears don't lie. Star Karim Ait M'hand is the find of 2015 in the "identity politics"-smashing SALVATION ARMY. This brown-eyed LONG DAY CLOSES gets to the human complexity of contemporary post-colonial global distress in one unpredictable sequence after another. Director-writer Abdellah Taia's narrative--and startlingly clear deep-focus photography courtesy Agnes Godard--expands beyond the heartbreaking tensions of a Moroccan family to the gay son's journey through sexual exploration/exploitation and (chimeric) liberation. Rewind, then fast-forward: A family's multiplicity of responses to a Moroccan crooner on TV--and its unexpected gestalt--typifies the qualities that make Taia's the most exciting film debut since A THOUSAND CLOUDS OF PEACE (2004) by Mexico's Julian Hernandez.
after watching, i did some research because i noticed in the middle of the film that this was the director's life story. i'm excited to read the novel because i think it will truly make your senses heightened and will add more power and depth to the narrative. exactly the same plot as my favorite documentary of last year, flee (2021).
7/10
Very poetic and emotional. It was like a gallery of beautiful paintings.
I have the feeling this movie makes a lot more sense if you read the book first. in retrospect I can understand what it was going for thematically but without the context I felt lost and somewhat frustrated
