Salvation Army
Description
Adapting his autobiographical novel, director Abdellah Taïa tells the story of a gay Moroccan boy finding self-realization and personal strength within a society that shuns him. Homosexuality, however, is not the only difficulty confronting Abdellah (the main character shares the same name as the filmmaker)—his father abuses his mom, he feels an attraction for his older brother Slimane and older men in the neighborhood prey on him for their frustrated sexual needs. Needing to escape the tensions in his environment, the restless teen goes on a road trip to the coast with Slimane. When the two are separated and Abdellah must depend on his own resources, it raises the possibility of a journey even farther from home and toward the European university education for which he longs. Telling the story through two different time periods and locales, Taïa employs long, expressive takes (the film is shot by the brilliant Agnès Godard) that rely more on visual expression than dialogic. Salvation Army is not only brave for tackling taboo issues within Moroccan society and finding new ways to represent the queer Arab experience, it is also a compelling cinematic debut from someone whose prior work has been exclusively in prose. –Rod Armstrong
Born in 1973 in Morocco, Abdellah Taïa is now based in Paris. He studied French literature while living in Rabat and later went on to study in Geneva and Paris. In 2007, he came out publicly in an issue of TelQuel, an independent Moroccan weekly, and the interview created a greater public discussion of homosexuality in Morocco. He has written several books, including Mon Maroc (2000), Salvation Army (2006) and An Arab Melancholia (2008), that have been translated throughout the world.
Trailer
//player.vimeo.com/video/88937542?autoplay=1Film Details
Language French
Original Language Title L’Armée du salut
Year 2013
Runtime 82
Country France/Morocco/Switzerland
Director Abdellah Taïa
Producer Hugues Charbonneau, Marie Ange Luciani
Writer Abdellah Taïa
Editor Françoise Tourmen
Cinematographer Agnès Godard
Cast Said Mrini, Karim Ait M’hand, Amine Ennaji
Print Source Ramonda Inc./ pramonda@gmail.com/ pascale@pascaleramonda.com