Ali Zaoua, prince de la rue (2000)

Director:

Nabil Ayouch

Writers:

Nabil Ayouch (writer)
Nathalie Saugeon (writer)

Release Date:

25 November 2000 (Morocco)

Genre:

Drama | Crime

Plot:

Ali, Kwita, Omar and Boubker are street kids. The daily dose of glue sniffing represents their only escape from reality...

Plot Keywords:

Island | Sailor | Casablanca | Glue Sniffing | Prostitute

Awards:

20 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Mounïm Kbab	...	Kwita
Mustapha Hansali	...	Omar
Hicham Moussoune	...	Boubker
Abdelhak Zhayra	...	Ali Zaoua
Saïd Taghmaoui	...	Dib
Amal Ayouch	...	Ali Zaoua's mother
Mohamed Majd	...	The fisherman
Hicham Ibrahimi	...	The sailor
Nadia Ould Hajjaj	...	Schoolgirl
Abdelkader Lofti	...	Hardware store owner
Khalil Essaadi	...	Khalid
Abdessamad Tourab Seddam	...	Noureddine
Ahmed Lahlil	...	Man in bar
Karim Merzak	...	The marabout's son
Halima Frizi	...	Old woman

Also Known As:

Ali Zoua: Prince of the Streets (USA)

Runtime:

99 min | Italy:90 min (Giffoni Film Festival) | USA:90 min | Argentina:95 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

Morocco | Tunisia | France | Belgium

Language:

Arabic | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

New Zealand:R13 | UK:15 (cut) | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Mexico:B | Spain:13 | Sweden:11

Filming Locations:

Casablanca, Morocco

Company:

2M

Movie Connections:

References Les quatre cents coups (1959)

a film from another world...

This is definitely one of the best films that i've seen lately. It tells the story of Moroccan street children who live in the filth of the gutters of present-day Casablanca. These homeless urchins, with a few exceptions, make up a gang of at least 75-100 kids who pick pockets, sniff glue and are led by Dib, a modern-day Fagin. A band of 3 ids, following a dreamer- Ali Zaoua, splits from this gang. When Ali is killed by a kid from the gang, the story begins.

We follow these children as they try to give Ali a funeral, and what we see in their world is at times terrifying, or at least extremely upsetting and unsettling. Part of what makes the film so effective is that the children are not actors- they are real street children. they are not Hollywood's dirty Orphan Annies, in pre-stained clothing and manufactured dirt- they are real. Dib is one of the few professional actors in the film. It is at times difficult to see because of this. Still, Ali Zaoua is an extremely good and possibly great film.