Layla M. (2016)

A teenage Muslim growing up in Amsterdam becomes radicalised.

Director:

Mijke de Jong

Writers:

Jan Eilander, Mijke de Jong

Stars:

Nora El Koussour, Ilias Addab, Hassan Akkouch

6 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Nora El Koussour	...	Layla
Ilias Addab	...	Abdel
Hassan Akkouch	...	Zine
Yasemin Cetinkaya	...	Oum Osama
Husam Chadat	...	Sheikh Abdullah Al Sabin
Sachli Gholamalizad	...	Senna
Karl Ferlin	...	Gastheer vluchthuis Antwerpen
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Zouhair Ait Aadi	...	Jihadi trainingscamp Belgium
Mohammed Azaay	...	Vader
Steef Cuijpers	...	AIVD agent
Miraj de Groof	...	Jihadi trainingscamp Belgium
Kerem Demirci	...	Jihadi trainingscamp Belgium
Nici Granit	...	Jihadi trainingscamp Belgium
Juju Habip	...	Jihadi trainingscamp Belgium
Suhaib Nashwan	...	Abu Osama (as Suhaib Neshwan)

Storyline

Layla is an 18-year old girl, born and raised in Amsterdam. Layla is smart, witty and stubborn - and of Moroccan background. In the times of constant terrorist threat, she struggles with the increasing suspicion towards girls with headscarves and boys with beards that she witnesses every day. While her frustration grows, her faith intensifies. Eventually, she joins a group of Muslims who fight for their practice of Islam. Layla posts films online depicting the horrors in Syria and Gaza and makes political flyers. And she flirts with the charismatic Abdel. When her peaceful brother and she are arrested by the police, Layla, feeling hurt and isolated in her anger, more and more in conflict with her parents, is left with only one option: to leave home. She chooses marriage, with Abdel. After their wedding, Layla and Abdel roam the country together, perform 'missionary work', and raise money for the good cause. But after they narrowly escape a raid by the Belgian police on a group of ...

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Plot Keywords:

muslim | veiled woman | netherlands | title directed by female | f rated | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The song Layla played at the hotel is called Ya Ghayeb, it is a love song by the Lebanese artist Fadl Shaker who in 2011 gave up music for religious reasons, joined a group of radical Sunni militiamen and sang for the Islamic Salafism. Shaker now is serving 15 years sentence with hard labor for his participation in clashes with the Lebanese army.

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Goofs

When in Syria, Layla is welcomed and looked after by a European convert lady who later tells Layla that she came from Germany. While Layla identified herself as coming from Amsterdam and spoke Dutch in most of the film, she and the German lady conversed in English. Germans & Dutch have a good level of intelligibility that doesn't necessitate using English.

User Reviews

To the point, nothing else

At a time of the ISIS raucous war in the Middle East, a Muslim teen with a strong identity falls prey to Jiddahists, trading her confortable life in a working decent family in The Netherlands for an unknown future. Strong character but naive beliefs do the rest. Modest production, conveys the idea and tells a lesson

Details

Official Sites:

Topkapi Films [Netherlands]

Country:

Netherlands Belgium Germany Jordan

Language:

Arabic English Dutch

Release Date:

17 November 2016 (Netherlands)

Also Known As:

Layla M.

Filming Locations:

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$266,010

Company Credits

Production Co:

Chromosom Filmproduktion, Imaginarium Films, Menuet bvba

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39:1