L’ARMEE DU SALUT

Abdellah (Saïd Mrini) is fifteen and grows up in a working-class district of Casablanca in a large family, between a mother who rules the house and an older brother whom he reveres and desires. That he loves men, he has known for a long time; that he can say it anywhere, he has not. Years later, Abdellah sits in Geneva: a scholarship has brought him to Europe, the Swiss professor who invited him is less a protector than a lover, and the accommodation left to him is a Salvation Army hostel. In “L’Armée du salut” (Morocco, 2013), Abdellah Taïa adapts his own autobiographical novel, published in 2006.

Taïa, born in Morocco and living in Paris, tells the story in terse, quiet scenes that leave out more than they show. The film dispenses with music and commentary; what Abdellah goes through is read from glances and pauses. It premiered in the Semaine de la Critique in Venice in 2013, after which the film played in Toronto and won the Grand Jury Prize at the Premiers Plans festival in Angers, as well as a special jury prize at the Tous Écrans festival in Geneva. “L’Armée du salut” was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2014.

Shown at the 2014 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2014 · Film Archive