Warning: SPoilers! I can't imagine this film being made today... certainly not in the climate of obsessive paranoia about pedophilia scares etc. After all, it shows a pre-adolescent completely fascinated by the large penis of his Arab friend Rachid. And we get a quick glimpse of the object in question, plus another quick glimpse at Rachid's bare butt. How many films today would allow that? How many theatres would dare programme it? Too bad - because Mon Copain Rachid is a wonderful little short... despite several un-Politically Correct sequences - Rachid falls into the stereotypes of Arabs that we can find in France ... but that is part of what is refreshing about this film: it dares to admit what most people refuse to say out loud even if they think it... that children DO have sexual fantasies; that stereotypes are often based partly on fact. And that adolescents (and pre-adolescents) can be highly-charged sexual beings - the actor playing Rachid has an incredible sex appeal, and yet he is barely 14. One of the better independent "gay" films worth seeing that most people won't get a chance to... it IS possible to find it on the Web, but only in its French version without subtitles, as far as I know. More's the pity. This film should be shown in schools and used for discussions on sexuality, stereotypes, racism, and good film-making!
Review of My Friend Rachid
