In an attempt to portray the lives of underrepresented Moroccan youth, director Nabil Ayouch sets his eighth feature in an arts centre which he co-founded in Casablanca’s neglected suburb of Sidi Moumen.
Ayouch means well, interpreting the teens’ connection to rap music as emblematic of a rebellious spirit, yet deeper discussions on other social issues – politics, women’s rights, religion – are unfortunately reduced to mere sources of frustration, either ending abruptly or remaining incomplete.
The film’s saving grace, though, is the cast of non-professional teenagers playing fictionalised versions of themselves. They have a charming rapport with their teacher, the former rapper Anas (Anas Babousi), who sets up a hip hop programme, though its uncertain whether you should be rooting for him when he so often comes across as arrogant and self-aggrandising.
He teaches them the importance of self-expression and its potential to unshackle younger generations from retrogression, and this becomes the film’s main premise, which is a message that’s far too simplistic to distract from other shortcomings.
Over a decade has passed since a wave of anti-government uprisings inspired a great hope that democracy would flourish across the MENA region, and while the Arab Spring failed to bring old realities to an end, the spirit of protest persists through cultural forms of resistance. Casablanca Beats, despite its faults, stands as testament to that tenacity.
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ANTICIPATION.
A Cannes competition entry that sounds a lot like Laurent Cantet’s Palme d’Or winning The Class. 3
ENJOYMENT.
Despite being cinematically lacklustre, the cast gives their best effort. 3
IN RETROSPECT.
The road to Sidi Moumen was paved with good intentions. 3
Directed by
Nabil Ayouch
Starring
Anas Basbousi
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