Razzia (2017) Reviews

• We'll Always Have Casablanca

  reidandgenene2018-04-20

  Razzia is a warm and humanist movie, consisting of five fictional stories about people in Morocco whose lives are challenged in different ways by the rising tide of intolerance. The movie is not the usual heavy-handed tragedy, nor is it at all preachy. The focus is on the characters. The five stories are only very loosely connected. The first is set in a remote inland village several decades ago, while the other four are set in contemporary Casablanca. We touch on a teacher facing Islamicization of primary schools; a married woman who is too modern for her husband; a Jewish restaurant owner; a young gay musician in a homophobic culture which nevertheless has a long gay tradition; and a teenage girl who isn't ready for adulthood. This movie is my favorite so far of the movies at our local film festival. Highly recommended. P.S. FYI, a 'razzia' is a military raid for plunder, but here it seems to mean mob action.

• Lost in the Narrative

  larrys32019-03-26

  Unfortunately, I got lost in the narrative of this Moroccan film, with its rather confusing flashbacks and numerous characters and themes. The movie directed by Nabil Ayouch and co-written by Ayouch and Maryam Touzani (who also stars in the film), centers on how 5 main characters try to find their own paths amidst the upheavals going on in their country regarding a more modern nation vs. the pushback of those who want a stricter religious state. I might also say the English subtitles here were quite small and I had to watch pretty much the entire movie in zoom mode, which didn't make for the greatest viewing experience. Overall, although there are genuine moments in the movie with its characters longing for a freer life, the film itself never really congealed into as much of a powerful drama as it might have, as I see it.

• Maybe Not Today, ...

  westsideschl2018-08-08

  The film contrasts the romantic idealistic setting/themes in the WWII movie Casablanca with five separate, eventually interconnected sub-stories, of near present day Casablanca (1990s-2015). The movie presents crushed hopes, weariness, religious and nationalistic intolerance (e.g. Arabic being forced upon rural Berber children), anger, juxtaposition of Judaism and Western dance/song decadence as well as gay acceptance (shown cleverly with the band Queen as backdrop) all playing against growing Islamic intolerance. The following, perhaps important, but not clear? We see the traditional Moroccan Shikhat, a privately held dance party for females, but it's significance wasn't clear to me. The title, perhaps government response to the 2015 student protests and looting.