Sama

A determined young woman in a remote Tunisian city bucks tradition by studying for an academic degree, instead of accepting the time-honored, submissive role of her sex as a wife and housekeeper for some 'mustached man'. Flashbacks to her childhood show a young girl already too independent for her own good, later to become both a symbol of changing times and (because of her refusal to bend under a patriarchal society) an outcast among her own people.

The debut feature by Tunisian director Néjia Ben Mabrouk is a modest, subdued portrait of a culture in transition, and not very optimistic about its heroine's liberation. Much of the film was effectively photographed by candle or lamplight alone, but marred by the odd formality of its (perhaps too literal) subtitle translations: "If you ever weaken in front of a man, I will drink the blood you didn't honor!"