Nabil Ayouch’s new film focuses on a group of underprivileged teens as they learn how to rap at a local youth centre
The ‘inspirational teacher’ films of Hollywood all tend to follow the same basic script: an unorthodox teacher gets to work with a class of no-hopers despite the disapproval of the stiffs in charge, only to win them over with spectacular results and/or a triumphant pop concert. They are films that celebrate individuality while secretly conforming to type, which might just be the key to their appeal.
Ayouch, a French-born director of Moroccan and Tunisian parentage who moved to Casablanca in the 1990s, brings a strong feminist slant to this material – a welcome perspective given the genre’s patchy track record on gender relations, and a reminder of hip-hop’s essentially protean nature, its ability to mean different things to different people in different places, at different times.
These scenes are punctuated with brief magical-realist interludes where the kids let their talents soar among the rooftops and criss-crossed washing lines of Casablanca’s slums. But reality is always quick to catch up, as some of the school’s parents voice their displeasure at seeing their kids exposed to such heathen music.
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