Translated by Google
Article by Mustapha Taleb
The film "Sika" by Rabie El-Gohary: The fragrance of the desert and the beauty of the image the story of the movie The film "Sika", directed by Rabie El Gohary and produced by Mustapha Bouhalba, is one of the few Moroccan feature films that dealt with the issue of the Moroccan Sahara in its national, cultural and civilizational dimension. The film "Sika" tells the story of Abdel Ghafour, the distinguished journalist (actor Al Hussein Bouhcine), who writes about the territorial integrity of Morocco in response to the separatist thesis in the eighties of the last century. On the night of his wedding to Fatimou, the woman of his life (Fadila Al-Hamel), a group of the Polisario attacked him, kidnapped him and killed his father-in-law and members of her family. Abdel Ghafour's permission is taken to the underground prisons of Tindouf, where he will be imprisoned for twenty years, during which he will experience and live with all kinds of torture by the Polisario leader named Mohamed "Al-Batal" (actor Tawfiq Sharaf El-Din), the latter will try to buy off Abdel Ghafour's silence in exchange for his release with financial temptation, But Abdel Ghafour will refuse to increase his suffering and plight, along with the rest of the Moroccans who are being held in separatist prisons. The "hero" is of Moroccan origins and belongs to a large desert family whose historical roots extend to the Bani Arous tribe in the north. The director will take advantage of this historical fact to travel with us through the history of Morocco, especially to the 13th century AD, to shed light on the cultural, scientific and spiritual giving of Morocco through prominent scholarly figures. Like Imam al-Shazli and the mystic scholar Abd al-Salam bin Mishish, who will be treacherously killed by "Abu al-Tawajen" who was spreading ignorance and superstitions among people, and the Abdari jurist and scholar Sheikh Ma al-Aynain and his son Ahmad al-Hiba, who will be killed by treachery after the hand of colonialism could not reach him. The path of a poisoned gift presented to him by one of the traitors tucked in the ranks of his forces. Through the scholarly Marrakesh, Tiznit, Fez, Chefchaouen, Tetouan and other desert cities, he shed light on scholars such as Abdali, Imam Chadli, Abd al-Salam bin Mishish, and the resistance of Sheikh Maa Al-Aynain against the Spanish and French colonialists, as well as his son Sheikh Ahmed Al-Hiba, who will be affected by the hand of treachery, which is the same hand of treachery that will affect The "hero" (in the twentieth century) when he will wake up from his slumber and realize that he was deceived by him. That is because the "hero" will visit his dying father and before his death he will present him with a manuscript he inherited from his father, urging him to take care of it because of its family and historical importance. The same scene we will see in Smara with Sheikh Ma' Al-Aynain, as he gives his son a valuable manuscript that fell from him like the inheritance of the ancestors, warning him not to be lost. After his father's death, then, the "hero" will have feelings of belonging to Morocco and to his family and Moroccan roots, so he decides to help Abdel Ghafour and his companions to escape, and to reconcile with himself and his Moroccan history. Deciphering the mystery of the Lions Fountain in the Alhambra Palace in the Andalusian city of Granada after he carved a similar fountain with the mouths of lions from which water flows. ) in which he deals with the fountain of lions, and he will also use a book by Ibn one of the greatest Arab inventors and mechanical engineers in the 13th century AD, the inventor of water-lifting waterwheels. Abdel Ghafour will discover that Morocco has changed after twenty years in the Polisario prison, as shown by the scene in which the "hero" presented him with a mobile phone that he had not imagined before, and contrary to what he was told, Abdel Ghafour will find his wife Fatimou who is waiting for him despite the passage of years as a symbol of loyalty and love And sincerity. In the end, the "hero" will go to Geneva with his fiancée, Abdel Ghafour and his wife in order to plead the issue of the Moroccan Sahara and refute the lies of the Polisario. In the evening, when he was wandering the street intoxicated by his defense of the Moroccanness of his desert, the "hero" would be stabbed from the back by "the hand of treachery and treachery" (by Ibn al-Tawajni, in reference to Abu al-Tawajine as a figure symbolizing betrayal and treachery), who throughout history killed Sheikh Abdeslam Benmish and the resistance Ahmed Al-Heiba. And burned the books of scholars and honest people loyal to the land of Morocco and its territorial integrity. The desert is an issue of existence, not a question of borders." So, the film "Sika" deals with the issue of the Moroccan Sahara, whose crisis was fabricated by the Spanish and French colonialism, and external parties are trying to deepen this fabricated crisis. The attack on journalist Abdel Ghafour and his wife on their wedding night, and kidnapping him from among his family. The title of the film also refers us to the desert and its natural, geographical, human and cultural worlds. "Sika" is a desert game (sik game) played by girls that relies on throwing sticks (asyak plural sik) in a sandy area, and five or six players participate in the game. As stated in the film, it creates an atmosphere of fun and joy, but the game has its social and political symbolism. The game connects us with the Moroccan Saharan society and its social and cultural customs and traditions, but it also has a political dimension in that there are external parties trying to make the issue of the Moroccan Sahara a political game or a card. Pressure exerted on Morocco by some countries in order to achieve political and economic goals. Perhaps the best example of this is the scene in which the "hero" appears at a conference in Geneva, holding the microphone, while talking about the roots of the Sahrawi families that date back to the Idrisid state, which sought to unify the regions of Morocco, (the inhabitants of the Sahara, Idris, mixed with the Berber tribes) and the extent to which these families are linked to the unity of Morocco. The microphone was removed from his hand out of a political motive so as not to complete his national thesis that refutes the separatist thesis. This is a fact that the director himself experienced in Geneva, as he stated.
Thus, the film "Sika", which presents a rich historical material in an interesting narrative form, which reflects the extent of the cinematic creator's interaction with his local and international surroundings and his adoption of his national issues, highlights how Morocco, from its south to its north and from its east to its west, was religiously, socially, culturally and politically cohesive, and that the people of the Sahara With their various tribes (Al-Rakibat and Al-Arousiyyin) and their rooted lineage in northern Morocco (these tribes trace their origins back to Mawla Abd al-Salam bin Mishish, the descendant of Mawla Idriss) they preserved this cultural extension and these cultural and spiritual ties as they confronted all attempts of crack, division and separation by foreign colonialism and its agents. In addition to that, through the issue of the Sahara, the film touched on Morocco's scientific, cultural, religious and artistic contributions, especially in the thirteenth century AD, through several beacons that were famous for their scientific and religious movement at the time, such as Sijilmassa and the city of Marrakesh in which Al-Abadri lived, such as the villagers of Fez, the qiblah of science, and scholars and students of science from all over Morocco, such as Smara. Tiznit is the stronghold of Sheikh Ma Al-Aynain and his son Ahmed Al-Heiba, may God Almighty have mercy on them both, who made the two cities two scientific schools, and Ketouan and Jabal Al-Aal. He knew the north of Morocco, in which the righteous scholar Abd al-Salam ibn Mishish, who was a contemporary of Caliph al-Nasir Li-Din Allah al-Muwahhid, settled. Through these geographical maps, the director sought to portray that Moroccan cultural heritage and that scientific and cultural movement that Morocco knew during the era of the Almohads and then the Saadians through the Marinids until the end of the Alawite state. From a cinematic point of view, it can be said that the director won to some extent this difficult bet, despite the physical and human obstacles that hinder the production of historical films or that veer over some historical stations in the film's story. The aesthetic vision of the film Each director has his own cinematic style and artistic vision for cinema, and perhaps the most important thing in this is the technical treatment he adopts in addressing the issues that concern him or his social and cultural surroundings. The viewer of the movie "Sika" comes out with the impression that the film belongs to the author's cinema, which is characterized by its interest in the aesthetic and artistic aspect, experimentation and the selection of topics accurately with a human and cultural dimension, with an accurate dialogue with depth and a poetic and symbolic touch that is reflected in the choice of decorations, sound and image and extracts the scenes from the monotony of reality, it is also characterized by control The director in the script that reflects his philosophical vision of existence, the human being, and the world of values in which he believes. On top of this and that, not to succumb to the dominance of stardom as in commercial cinema, that is, not to include famous actors in the film and to rely on amateur, obscure or close to the theater actors. We see this in the movie "Sika", where it seemed generally devoid of Moroccan cinematic faces with a national and international re.
The film "Sika" by Rabie El-Gohary: The fragrance of the desert and the beauty of the image the story of the movie The film "Sika", directed by Rabie El Gohary and produced by Mustapha Bouhalba, is one of the few Moroccan feature films that dealt with the issue of the Moroccan Sahara in its national, cultural and civilizational dimension. The film "Sika" tells the story of Abdel Ghafour, the distinguished journalist (actor Al Hussein Bouhcine), who writes about the territorial integrity of Morocco in response to the separatist thesis in the eighties of the last century. On the night of his wedding to Fatimou, the woman of his life (Fadila Al-Hamel), a group of the Polisario attacked him, kidnapped him and killed his father-in-law and members of her family. Abdel Ghafour's permission is taken to the underground prisons of Tindouf, where he will be imprisoned for twenty years, during which he will experience and live with all kinds of torture by the Polisario leader named Mohamed "Al-Batal" (actor Tawfiq Sharaf El-Din), the latter will try to buy off Abdel Ghafour's silence in exchange for his release with financial temptation, But Abdel Ghafour will refuse to increase his suffering and plight, along with the rest of the Moroccans who are being held in separatist prisons. The "hero" is of Moroccan origins and belongs to a large desert family whose historical roots extend to the Bani Arous tribe in the north. The director will take advantage of this historical fact to travel with us through the history of Morocco, especially to the 13th century AD, to shed light on the cultural, scientific and spiritual giving of Morocco through prominent scholarly figures. Like Imam al-Shazli and the mystic scholar Abd al-Salam bin Mishish, who will be treacherously killed by "Abu al-Tawajen" who was spreading ignorance and superstitions among people, and the Abdari jurist and scholar Sheikh Ma al-Aynain and his son Ahmad al-Hiba, who will be killed by treachery after the hand of colonialism could not reach him. The path of a poisoned gift presented to him by one of the traitors tucked in the ranks of his forces. Through the scholarly Marrakesh, Tiznit, Fez, Chefchaouen, Tetouan and other desert cities, he shed light on scholars such as Abdali, Imam Chadli, Abd al-Salam bin Mishish, and the resistance of Sheikh Maa Al-Aynain against the Spanish and French colonialists, as well as his son Sheikh Ahmed Al-Hiba, who will be affected by the hand of treachery, which is the same hand of treachery that will affect The "hero" (in the twentieth century) when he will wake up from his slumber and realize that he was deceived by him. That is because the "hero" will visit his dying father and before his death he will present him with a manuscript he inherited from his father, urging him to take care of it because of its family and historical importance. The same scene we will see in Smara with Sheikh Ma' Al-Aynain, as he gives his son a valuable manuscript that fell from him like the inheritance of the ancestors, warning him not to be lost. After his father's death, then, the "hero" will have feelings of belonging to Morocco and to his family and Moroccan roots, so he decides to help Abdel Ghafour and his companions to escape, and to reconcile with himself and his Moroccan history. Deciphering the mystery of the Lions Fountain in the Alhambra Palace in the Andalusian city of Granada after he carved a similar fountain with the mouths of lions from which water flows. ) in which he deals with the fountain of lions, and he will also use a book by Ibn one of the greatest Arab inventors and mechanical engineers in the 13th century AD, the inventor of water-lifting waterwheels. Abdel Ghafour will discover that Morocco has changed after twenty years in the Polisario prison, as shown by the scene in which the "hero" presented him with a mobile phone that he had not imagined before, and contrary to what he was told, Abdel Ghafour will find his wife Fatimou who is waiting for him despite the passage of years as a symbol of loyalty and love And sincerity. In the end, the "hero" will go to Geneva with his fiancée, Abdel Ghafour and his wife in order to plead the issue of the Moroccan Sahara and refute the lies of the Polisario. In the evening, when he was wandering the street intoxicated by his defense of the Moroccanness of his desert, the "hero" would be stabbed from the back by "the hand of treachery and treachery" (by Ibn al-Tawajni, in reference to Abu al-Tawajine as a figure symbolizing betrayal and treachery), who throughout history killed Sheikh Abdeslam Benmish and the resistance Ahmed Al-Heiba. And burned the books of scholars and honest people loyal to the land of Morocco and its territorial integrity. The desert is an issue of existence, not a question of borders." So, the film "Sika" deals with the issue of the Moroccan Sahara, whose crisis was fabricated by the Spanish and French colonialism, and external parties are trying to deepen this fabricated crisis. The attack on journalist Abdel Ghafour and his wife on their wedding night, and kidnapping him from among his family. The title of the film also refers us to the desert and its natural, geographical, human and cultural worlds. "Sika" is a desert game (sik game) played by girls that relies on throwing sticks (asyak plural sik) in a sandy area, and five or six players participate in the game. As stated in the film, it creates an atmosphere of fun and joy, but the game has its social and political symbolism. The game connects us with the Moroccan Saharan society and its social and cultural customs and traditions, but it also has a political dimension in that there are external parties trying to make the issue of the Moroccan Sahara a political game or a card. Pressure exerted on Morocco by some countries in order to achieve political and economic goals. Perhaps the best example of this is the scene in which the "hero" appears at a conference in Geneva, holding the microphone, while talking about the roots of the Sahrawi families that date back to the Idrisid state, which sought to unify the regions of Morocco, (the inhabitants of the Sahara, Idris, mixed with the Berber tribes) and the extent to which these families are linked to the unity of Morocco. The microphone was removed from his hand out of a political motive so as not to complete his national thesis that refutes the separatist thesis. This is a fact that the director himself experienced in Geneva, as he stated.
Thus, the film "Sika", which presents a rich historical material in an interesting narrative form, which reflects the extent of the cinematic creator's interaction with his local and international surroundings and his adoption of his national issues, highlights how Morocco, from its south to its north and from its east to its west, was religiously, socially, culturally and politically cohesive, and that the people of the Sahara With their various tribes (Al-Rakibat and Al-Arousiyyin) and their rooted lineage in northern Morocco (these tribes trace their origins back to Mawla Abd al-Salam bin Mishish, the descendant of Mawla Idriss) they preserved this cultural extension and these cultural and spiritual ties as they confronted all attempts of crack, division and separation by foreign colonialism and its agents. In addition to that, through the issue of the Sahara, the film touched on Morocco's scientific, cultural, religious and artistic contributions, especially in the thirteenth century AD, through several beacons that were famous for their scientific and religious movement at the time, such as Sijilmassa and the city of Marrakesh in which Al-Abadri lived, such as the villagers of Fez, the qiblah of science, and scholars and students of science from all over Morocco, such as Smara. Tiznit is the stronghold of Sheikh Ma Al-Aynain and his son Ahmed Al-Heiba, may God Almighty have mercy on them both, who made the two cities two scientific schools, and Ketouan and Jabal Al-Aal. He knew the north of Morocco, in which the righteous scholar Abd al-Salam ibn Mishish, who was a contemporary of Caliph al-Nasir Li-Din Allah al-Muwahhid, settled. Through these geographical maps, the director sought to portray that Moroccan cultural heritage and that scientific and cultural movement that Morocco knew during the era of the Almohads and then the Saadians through the Marinids until the end of the Alawite state. From a cinematic point of view, it can be said that the director won to some extent this difficult bet, despite the physical and human obstacles that hinder the production of historical films or that veer over some historical stations in the film's story. The aesthetic vision of the film Each director has his own cinematic style and artistic vision for cinema, and perhaps the most important thing in this is the technical treatment he adopts in addressing the issues that concern him or his social and cultural surroundings. The viewer of the movie "Sika" comes out with the impression that the film belongs to the author's cinema, which is characterized by its interest in the aesthetic and artistic aspect, experimentation and the selection of topics accurately with a human and cultural dimension, with an accurate dialogue with depth and a poetic and symbolic touch that is reflected in the choice of decorations, sound and image and extracts the scenes from the monotony of reality, it is also characterized by control The director in the script that reflects his philosophical vision of existence, the human being, and the world of values in which he believes. On top of this and that, not to succumb to the dominance of stardom as in commercial cinema, that is, not to include famous actors in the film and to rely on amateur, obscure or close to the theater actors. We see this in the movie "Sika", where it seemed generally devoid of Moroccan cinematic faces with a national and international re.