Institute History
Description
The vacant lots and streets of Casablanca are home to a band of kids who sleep in the open air and support themselves through petty crime under the tutelage of Dib, boss of their scruffy underage Mafia. Four of the gang, Ali, Kouka, Omar, and Boubker, rebel against Dib's oppressive rule and strike out on their own, running away from "home" a second time. When Dib's thugs try to return them by force, Ali is killed. The remaining three friends stash the body and set off on a frenetic quest to give him a proper burial. "Maybe he had a shitty life, but he won't be buried like a piece of shit." Bound together by their search, they find meaning, transcendence, and a measure of peace.
Despite their marginalization, the boys still long for love and tenderness, and they still dream. Ali's fantasy was to escape to the seas, become a sailor, reach the island "where two suns set," become the royal prince, and "meet a lovely woman." Set against the cruel street world, with its incessant rhythm of crime, violence, and degradation, is a sensitive, poetic evocation of the emotions of the protagonists and the dead Ali.
In this second feature film by director Nabil Ayouch, fast-paced, staccato action and dialogue are skillfully combined with lyrical dissolves into fable and storytelling as Ali is transformed from a troubled, glue-sniffing runaway to a legendary hero.