L'Armée Du Salut (Salvation Army) (2014)

Abdellah Taia, director. L'Armee du Salut (Salvation Army). 2013. 81 minutes. French and Moroccan Arabic (English subtitles). France/Morocco. Les film Pelleas, Rita Production, Ali n'Films. No price reported.L'Armee du Salut, adapted from Moroccan Abdellah Taia's (b. 1973) 2006 novel of the same title, is the author-filmmaker's first feature-length film. The film is also the first ever made in Morocco about homosexuality in the country. Debuting in February 2014, the film thus far has been widely shown in theaters across the country. It was shown in Rotterdam in January and in France in May 2014.Taia's film miraculously skirted censorship despite pressure from the PJD (Parti de la justice et du developpement/Party for Justice and Development), the leading Islamic political party in Morocco. Although considered a somewhat moderate party, its officials were still outraged by what they deemed a film promoting values that are deemed un-Islamic. Taia explains in an interview (Le film de Abdellah Taia selectionne au festival de Tanger, www.tanger-experience.com) that even though the film was finally shown in theaters, it was not without controversy from the first moments began shooting. In El-Jadida on the Atlantic coast, Islamistleaning students organized demonstrations at the university against the filmmaker and his production staff. Despite this setback, L'Armee du Salut was ultimately made, and subsequently was one of the twenty-two films nominated for the Grand Prix at the Tangiers Film Festival in February 2014. Such an honor reflects the schizophrenic sociocultural and political reality of a country in transition in an era of rapid globalization. While Morocco is one of the most progressive nations dedicated to improving human rights in the Arab world, it is still a country that considers homosexuality a crime, as prescribed in Article 489 of the Penal Code, which criminalizes lewd or unnatural with an individual of the same sex. Those condemned of acts can serve up to nine months in prison and suffer significant fines.L'Armee du Salut is for the most part autobiographical: a coming-of-age story about a young boy embracing his homosexuality and the difficulty of expressing his sexual orientation in a society that is very much entrenched in and structured by tradidonal gender roles. For many Moroccans, upholding the sociocultural divisions between men and women are imperative. But these divisions, certainly for younger generations, are becoming increasingly difficult to accept. Thus, Taia suggests that his film is not only about social alienation because of sexual orientation, but also about the disenfranchisement of young people who seek to challenge traditional mores. This film corresponds to my vision about life in Morocco and how this country treats its individuals, whether hetero or homosexual, . . .in how it strangles their aspirations and their true freedoms, the filmmaker notes in the online interview.The film is divided into two parts. The first focuses on a young Taia (played by Said Mrini), living and coming of age in the late 1980s in Sale, a somewhat disenfranchised working-class suburb of Rabat. During this time engages in his first homosexual encounters with older men in back alleys and behind half-built walls on the building sites of his neighborhood. The second chapter transitions to an older Taia (played by Karim Ait M'Hand), who has embraced his homosexuality through several sexual liaisons. These relationships include one with Jean, a Swiss man on holiday in Morocco. Abdellah ends up leaving Morocco to pursue his studies in Switzerland, where encounters Jean again but now rejects him. In a heated argument Abdellah tells Jean that he explained everything in his as to why no longer wants to continue their relationship, although viewers are not privy to the content of the letter or what ultimate understanding is worked out between the two men. …