Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets
Published 7:00 am Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Take an unheralded little movie from Morocco, cast it with real street kids out of Los Olvidados, kill the most sympathetic character five minutes in, add some whimsical animation sequences, and youve got one of the best pictures from SIFF 01. Among the filthy, feral, glue-sniffing waifs near Casablancas harbor, three children resolve to give their deceased pal a decent funeral (We wont let him be buried like shit!). Meanwhile, the freaky deaf-mute leader of their old gang could beat or sodomize them at any moment; then they have to tell their dead friends prostitute mother the bad news. Too much pathos, you ask? Maybe, but you might be a pre-teen glue sniffer, too, facing the real-life poverty that inspired Alis script. Introduced by John Sinno of Arab Film Distribution. (NR) BRIAN MILLER
Sun., March 21, 2 p.m., 2010
