@ the movies: 1000 months

Went to a the LA Film Festival and saw "Mille Mois" (1000 Months) a Moroccan movie by Faouzi Bensaidi.

Here are some web pages that mention the film:
Arabic News report on the film.
Review of film during Palm Springs Film festival.
Another review from England.
Summary from Hollywood Reporter.

The film revolves around the life of a young boy during the month of Ramadan in a rural town. It is a slice of life kind of film that maybe too slow for American audiences. The story is also somewhat sad as you watch the difficulties the poor people of the town have to face. I have to wonder how the government of Morocco feels about the film as it is far from a rosy portrait of life there.

I very much liked the young boy, his mom and his grandfather. They played roles of simple dignity amidst their difficult circumstances. In some ways, that aspect of the film is very universal and reaches people.

The film also touches on some aspects of Islamic faith and practice which is very educational for me as a Christian living in America who doesn't know any practicing Muslims.

I saw the film with two friends one of whom is from Morocco.

He felt the film was realistic up to a point. It portrayed the hard scrabble life of the rural areas. It also showed different aspects of the culture, politics, gender roles and religion. The geography and scenery is typical of that area of the country. He did feel it focused on the rather negative parts of life there. He really enjoyed hearing his own language on the movie screen and laughed along with some of the humor that is very true to that culture. But overall, it was a bit of a downer of a movie.

We all agreed it was a bit of a downer. Movies are inherently narrow cast portraits of the lives of people. But for me, the quality that makes it worthwhile is that it is a ground level view of the lives of people I've never met and what is uplifting is the life of the family that is the center of the story.

I'm giving the movie 2.5 stars of 4.