This is a very difficult movie to watch. It's based on true events: the atrocious assault, torture and murder of a gay young man with an Islamic background by a group of drunken homophobic sadists in 2012. Filmmaker Nabil Ben Nadir doesn't spare the viewers, we get to see the whole ordeal in all its gruesome details. At first I was skeptical about this: is such an apalling display of violence really necessary to make the point? But gradually I changed my mind: yes, by showing it thus harsh and unpolished, it's the only way to convince viewers of the lengths of brutality to which homophobia up to this very day can go, and to let us almost personally feel the reality of it.
Cinematographically the director has used an interesting approach, dividing the story in three different parts. At first we see secretly gay Brahim in the midst of a festive birthday-celebration with his large Islamic family, nervously awaiting his boyfriends arrival, when he is suddenly confronted by a angry family member about his being gay. The gap between the warmth of the family and this ostracism couldn't be bigger. In part two Brahim unsuspectingly takes a lift in a car filled with drunken thugs, which leads to the fatal abuse and murder. And then there is a surprising third part, where we follow one of these guys in his own everyday life, to illustrate (as I saw it) that danger can smoulder in the most inconspicuous and seemingly well behaving people. All the time the hand-held camera follows the characters extremely close, in long nervous shots, making you as a viewer almost part of the action.
Brahim is played by Soufiane Chilah, he is already excellent in part one, but especially in part two one can only admire his readiness to go all the way, to comply with the director's need for extreme realism; the shooting of these difficult scenes must have been an actual ordeal for him, as well as for the whole crew.
Cinematographically the director has used an interesting approach, dividing the story in three different parts. At first we see secretly gay Brahim in the midst of a festive birthday-celebration with his large Islamic family, nervously awaiting his boyfriends arrival, when he is suddenly confronted by a angry family member about his being gay. The gap between the warmth of the family and this ostracism couldn't be bigger. In part two Brahim unsuspectingly takes a lift in a car filled with drunken thugs, which leads to the fatal abuse and murder. And then there is a surprising third part, where we follow one of these guys in his own everyday life, to illustrate (as I saw it) that danger can smoulder in the most inconspicuous and seemingly well behaving people. All the time the hand-held camera follows the characters extremely close, in long nervous shots, making you as a viewer almost part of the action.
Brahim is played by Soufiane Chilah, he is already excellent in part one, but especially in part two one can only admire his readiness to go all the way, to comply with the director's need for extreme realism; the shooting of these difficult scenes must have been an actual ordeal for him, as well as for the whole crew.