Currently screening as part of the 20th Biografilm Festival in Bologna.
Director Kaouther Ben Hania has made a very creative and intelligent documentary film. The story is told by the Tunisian mother, Olfa and two of her daughters, Eya and Tayssir. A character will play Olfa when the scenes are too upsetting, tells the director to Olfa in the film: And two actors will play your oldest daughters. This is the story’s beginning that, little by little, uncovers how two young, reasonable women make their own choices in life. Choices the remaining family try to understand during the making of the film. It took me some time to understand what happened to the other sisters, Rahma and Ghofrane.
The four daughters
The actors appear. The mother and sisters are clearly touched. The actors remind them of the disappeared sisters, and one says: They tried on the hijab. They liked it, and they kept it—tears between the scenes.
The director states that the filming will be painful, and they will experience everything again. It is painful, and soon, the female actor takes over. Her way of asking questions and unveiling the story is very powerful and done naturally and competently. She is a scoop for the film.
Mother Olfas’s backstory is played out in a lovely interweaving between Olfas’s spoken words, a male actor, the actor playing Olfa and Olfas’s directing of the scenes when they are not correct or violent enough. She simply jumps in and plays herself on the wedding night; for instance, not wanting to have sex with her husband, she hits him until he bleeds, dries up the blood with a blanket and shows it to guests. Finally, the wedding party can begin.
Four daughters came out of the marriage. It is indisputable that they had a strict upbringing. When one of the small sisters was eight, she took a photo with her mobile phone of a part of her leg, but in the photo, it looked like a butt. Olfa looked at her phone and got very upset, willing to throw her out of the house. The fear was already hunting the daughter; she dared not to tell the truth. Here, the actor interferes and wants Olfa to explain her motivation to get so angry. Olfa states that everything that relates to the female body is shameful and obscene and that the daughters have entered dangerous territory. To me, this is a brilliant example of one of the very well-performed scenes.
It seems as if Olfa also entered dangerous territory when she fell in love with a man just released from prison for murder. It turned out to be an unhealthy acquaintance. He assaulted the girls. Not only this scene but playing out the whole film seems to help the daughters to tell Olfa what they have experienced, their feelings. Sometimes with help from the actor.
Rahma started to stay away from school and became a goth. Olfa got very upset when she found out that Ghofrane was waxed. She was hit with a broom until Olfa thought she was dead. Now, the two oldest daughters began wearing a hijab. No doubt, Olfa was stringent and protective of her daughters. Was it necessary? I ask myself. I think it was too much, but it is up to the audience to judge. It all depends on what perspective you see in the film.
It seems as if Olfa also entered dangerous territory when she fell in love with a man just released from prison for murder.
Not unpredictable
To me, it was not unpredictable that Ghofrane and Rahma chose to leave home in Tunisia. But where they went was devastating. Rahma, only 17 years old, left with a false passport to Libya and married 36-year-old Noureddine Chouchane, chief of an ISIL training camp in Sabratha, the man behind a terrorist attack in Tunisia. I keep thinking that the girls’ terms of growing up, the lack of talking about things and the violence have been some of the reasons why they made their choices.
The mother fears that her youngest daughters will join their sisters in Libya. And for a good reason, one of them says: I only wanted to join Rahma and Ghofrane. But I interpret it as longing for being together more than longing for being in a training camp.
Guesses and reflection
In 2016, the USA announced an airstrike targeting the camp. Chouchane and 48 others were killed. Ghofrane and Rahma survived and were arrested. Rahma with a four-month-old baby. They were sentenced to 16 years in prison in Libya. Fatima, Rahmas daughter, is raised in prison; she is eight years old today. We see her in a short clip. It moves me. What an unfair life she is brought up to. Will she be a product of her mother and father? I can only guess.
What is certain is that it is a brilliant film Ben Hanina has created. She reveals what happened in a Tunisian family, and it is up to you as a viewer to reflect on why it happened. It is a scary ending to the fantastic documentary. Thank you to the family for sharing a story that is hard to forget and, to me, hard to relate to but easy to have feelings for.
