Alexandria Film Festival Sends a Message: “Al Mansiyoun” Is a Cry Against Illegal Emigration

The official film contest at the International Alexandria Film Festival brings together fourteen films from fourteen different countries. Amongst the countries that are participating are Algeria which entered the competition this year with a film by director Marzouq A’loush. France’s entry was a film by director Philippe Laurie rwhile Morocco participated with director Hassan Bangiloun’s title “Al Mansiyoun” (“The Forgotten”).Interestingly the themes of the three aforementioned titles are closely related in that they all discuss the ambitions of North African youths to emigrate illegally to Europe in the hope of finding for themselves a better life with higher living standards, along with jobs that can afford them a more luxurious life in a short space of time. It would seem that it is a strange coincidence that the contest hosted all of the aforementioned closely related titles – a coincidence that is further amplified by the contemporaneous issue of Egyptian youths emigrating to Italy, something which seems to always end in disaster.“Al Mansiyoun” is Hassan Bangiloun’s sixth directing experience and follows a set of short and feature length narrative works that have earned him awards at different film festivals. “Al Mansiyoun” won awards in the best screenplay and best actor categories at the 2010 Tangiers Film Festival. The same title also earned the audience’s award at the 2010 Tetouan Film Festival, and the award for the best actor category at the 2010 Rotterdam Film Festival.The production tells the story of a youth called A’zouz who emigrates to Belgium, crossing the Mediterranean in a small boat crammed with other youths whose fates after the crossing is made are not discussed. A’zouz leaves his fiancé Youmna back in Morocco – hoping to come back with enough money to get married to her and to live a decent life. Thus A’zouz spends his first day on the run from the police and trying to find some sort of work and shelter. His search brings him to a friend from Morocco who helps him find work at a shopping center. A’zouz’s employees abuse the fact that he is an illegal migrant and assign him heavy work, compensating him with only half the salary he should be earning. A’zouz has no choice but to accept that arrangement in the hope that things will get better and that he will somehow realize his dreams. Later on A’zouz moves in with his friend who tries to take his mind of his woes by taking him out to bars and nightclubs, common hangouts for prostitutes. Meanwhile, back in Morocco, Youmna’s family try to get her married to a different man. However, she runs away after her husband to-be learns that she is not a virgin and had in fact lost her virginity to A’zouz. Thus, Youmna escapes to the city of Fez fearing that her father will try to kill her. However, she is lured by a human trafficker who tempts her to go follow an arranged plan to travel to Brussels in order to find her fiancé there. Thus, she is indeed shipped to Brussels along with other women and forced to work as prostitutes under the heavy hand of an organized criminal network that keep them her and the other women locked up in prison like conditions. A’zouz bumps into Youmna at one of the bars where she is forced to work and after he gets over his shock he tries to help Youmna escape. His efforts fail however, and a gang member tries to kill him – at this point he is rescued by his Moroccan friend who calls the police. The police come round and arrest the leader of the gang thus freeing the women.Despite the fact that the screenplay seems unoriginal when compared to other films that discuss illegal emigration to Europe it nonetheless has an added element which sheds light on the issue of human trafficking – a phenomenon that the film made clear does not only affect Arab women but rather women of different backgrounds some of whom eventually seek suicide as a way out. On this note, the film presents the character of Nawal, another Moroccan girl lured to the West by false promises and then forced into prostitution. Some girls have their passports taken by force in order to prevent their escape and thus the hopelessness led one girl in the film to commit suicide. Thus, the dilemma as presented in the film does not affect male youths only but also extends to the women that follow them so that two souls are eventually lost in a futile pursuit.The production did not limit itself to an impartial discussion of the problem, it also further indicts certain political regimes whose practices have exacerbated the situation. The director was very forward in this regard so that his accusations against meant officials were particularly vociferous. In a scene, A’zouz approaches an official that works at the Moroccan embassy and asks for his help in freeing his fiancé from the gang that have her imprisoned – the official turns him away due to a concern that this could lead to a clash with Belgian authorities. Thereafter A’zouz’s friend resorts to the Belgian police in order to save A’zouz from certain death at the hands of the criminal gang. Director Hassan Bangiloun is a native of the town of Settat, he studied cinema in Paris and directed his first work “Fee Itigah Wahed” (“One Direction”) in 1983. In 1989 he joined four Moroccan filmmakers to found the Casablanca group through which they produced five feature length films – including Bangiloun’s first feature length production “Al Youm Al Akhir” (“Last Day”). Since then, Bangiloun has presented six other feature length works that discuss difficulties facing contemporary Moroccan society. Among these are the films “Ya Reit” (“If Only”), “Shafa Samta” (“Silent Lips”) and “Fein Mashi ya Moshy” (“Where are You off to Moshy?”)