A former rapper sets up a hip-hop programme for the participants of his local youth group in Nabil Ayouch’s well-meaning drama.
In an attempt to portray the lives of underrepresented Moroccan youth, director Nabil Ayouch sets his eighth feature in an arts centre which he co-founded in Casablanca’s neglected suburb of Sidi Moumen.
Ayouch means well, interpreting the teens’ connection to rap music as emblematic of a rebellious spirit, yet deeper discussions on other social issues – politics, women’s rights, religion – are unfortunately reduced to mere sources of frustration, either ending abruptly or remaining incomplete.
The film’s saving grace, though, is the cast of non-professional teenagers playing fictionalised versions of themselves. They have a charming rapport with their teacher, the former rapper Anas (Anas Babousi), who sets up a hip hop programme, though its uncertain whether you should be rooting for him when he so often comes across as arrogant and self-aggrandising.
He teaches them the importance of self-expression and its potential to unshackle younger generations from retrogression, and this becomes the film’s main premise, which is a message that’s far too simplistic to distract from other shortcomings.
Over a decade has passed since a wave of anti-government uprisings inspired a great hope that democracy would flourish across the MENA region, and while the Arab Spring failed to bring old realities to an end, the spirit of protest persists through cultural forms of resistance. Casablanca Beats, despite its faults, stands as testament to that tenacity.
Little White Lies is committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them.
Published 28 Apr 2022
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Little White Lies was established in 2005 as a bi-monthly print magazine committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. Combining cutting-edge design, illustration and journalism, we’ve been described as being “at the vanguard of the independent publishing movement.” Our reviews feature a unique tripartite ranking system that captures the different aspects of the movie-going experience. We believe in Truth & Movies.
