Ali Zaoua
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| Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets | |
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 Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets |
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| Directed by | Nabil Ayouch |
| Produced by | Nabil Ayouch |
| Written by | Nabil Ayouch |
| Starring | Mounim Kbab Abdelhak Zhayra Hicham Moussoune Amal Ayouch Mustapha Hansali |
| Release date(s) | 2000 |
| Running time | 90 min |
| Language | Arabic |
| IMDb profile | |
Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets is a Moroccan film that tells the story of some homeless boys. The film is very touching; it was awarded in the 2000 Stockholm Film Festival and in the 2000 Amiens International Film Festival.
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[edit] Plot
Kwita (Mounim Kbab), Omar (Mustapha Hansali) and Boubker (Hicham Moussoune) are distraught that gang members have killed Ali Zaoua (Abdelhak Zhayra), and they vow to bury him "like a prince." Kwita is the boy who masterminds the idea, but his resolve doesn't always match his courage, so it's Omar who works his way into Ali's old house, where Ali's mother (Amal Ayouch) works as a prostitute. Just finished with a customer, she says that Ali lied when he claimed she'd wanted "to sell his eyes" for profit. More truths are revealed, which help explain Ali's obsession with becoming a sailor and living on an island far from Casablanca.
Before the trio's quest is over, Kwita meets a girl he falls for ("meets" is being kind -- he steals her wallet) and visits a cemetery where his lack of religious training ("I went to a mosque once") is criticized; Omar briefly returns to his former gang, which instigated Ali's murder; and Boubker -- the smallest and most vulnerable of the three -- threatens to kill himself but recovers his sense of self and helps an old fisherman (Mohamed Majd) on his boat. (The scene where Boubker tries to buy nails in a hardware store is priceless.)
[edit] Miscellanea
- The boys starring in the film are actually real homeless boys.
[edit] Awards
- Bronze Horse, 2000 Stockholm Film Festival
- Audience Award, 2000 Amiens International Film Festival
