Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Uncommon Tunisian Road Movie about dreamers

Le Chant de la Noria (2002) directed by Abdellatif Ben Ammar
The first thing which made me watch this film was the fact that Abdellatif Ben Ammar is a veteran figure of Tunisian cinema. After having studied cinema at the famous IDHEC film school in Paris,he has worked with some of the most respected figures of world cinema like Rossellini, Chabrol and George Cukor. He has even co-produced the film "Les Baliseurs du désert" directed by Nacer Khemir. Before making "Le chant de la Noria",Abdellatif Ben Ammar had already made 3 critically acclaimed films. This film is a kind of road movie in which proper care is taken of the depiction of the status of women in the traditional Tunisian society.Although road movies are a common feature of European as well as American cinemas, this is for the first time that someone has made a road movie in the history of Arab (Tunisian) cinema. This road movie is different as it is rather light whereas most of the traditional road movies tend to be serious.

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