Shouf shouf habibi!

I laughed and almost cried about this movie. Its a typically Dutch made movie for which one needs a bit of knowledge about dutch culture. A Film you most see. As a member of a etnic minority I saw a lot of simularity in settling and about intergration and its difficulty. I read a comment about this movie being Dull,´Well´, then Dutch culture has its dull sides, are you willing to see beyond!

Shouf Shouf Habibi is a film about a Moroccan Family trying to find their way in the Dutch society. With that they regularly clash with the established Western culture, from generation to generation.

The cynical treatment of the collision between two cultures that has been applied earns respect. Ter Heerdt emphasizes both the Dutch and the Moroccan attitude, which results in a very funny story. Rightly, there is no side chosen or judgement cut down; it remains merely analysing and thereby funny. It functions as comic relief to a subject which has become considerably hot in the Netherlands; integration. As I've said before, therefore this movie earns his credits.

It gave a lot of noise when this film was released in Holland. In the cinemas where it was shown, Moroccan youngsters claimed that the movie was 'theirs'. They thought that the film didn't have the intention to enjoy native Dutch people also, and as a consequence little riots broke out. Unfortunately, the Moroccan youngsters who did this never got the spirit this movie actually tries to promote....

"Shouf shouf habibi" is a comedy about the Moroccan family Bentarek, whose kids are integrated in the Dutch society to a varying degree.

The interpretation of the movie cannot be seperated from the Dutch political situation of that time, not long after the murder in 2002 on the politician Pim Fortuyn, the first politically oriented murder in Holland since a long time.

Before that time criticism on immigrants was frequently interpreted as a sort of racism. Immigrants were mainly seen as victims. At that time immigrants were all too often stereotyped as maladjusted and causing problems. At the present day, with the woke movement, a return to the initial situation seems to be occuring.

At the time of release there was criticism on the film from the Moroccan community. The film should be politically incorrect (or, at that time, it was maybe better to call the film politically too correct). This criticism is correct if we just look at the main character Abdullah, who isn't the ideal son in law, too say the least. The criticism is incorrect if we look at the whole Bentarek family.

The film would have been more balanced if for example Samir (the oldest brother of Abdullah) or Leila (his sister) had had an equally important role as Abdullah. In that case the film however would have also been less funny. With Abdullah in the lead the Bentarek family sort of becomes a multi cultural "Flodder" (1986, Dick Maas).

According to Shakespeare "all''s well that ends well" and in the end Abdulah is a railway guard with a permanent position. A more assimilated job is hardly conceivable. The transition from a a bridegroom on the run to this permanent position does however happen a bit suddenly.

This is supposed to be a comedy about Moroccan people trying to settle down in the Netherlands, and trying to make some money the easy way. Indeed there are one or two funny scenes, but on the whole there's too little humor to make this film a comedy: no smiles, no belly-laughs, no tongue-in-cheek jokes. The acting is flat and unconvincing, the filming is unimaginative. If you'd like to see a film about the clash between Islam and European culture, the generation gap between the immigrants and their children you'd better go and see 'East is East'. 'Shouf shouf habibi', hyped as the 'First Dutch Moroccan Film Ever', will not go down in my history book. 4/10

Although I normally do not like comedies (I prefer subtle humor in films that are about something else then just making jokes), Shouf Shouf Habibi definitely put some smiles on my face. Some subtle, intelligent jokes, some tougher. Good acting, interesting actors. To me this film showed that the general image about Moroccans that is spread in Holland can be true, but isn't always, and that there are always different stories for different people. Good humor, making you think, what else does a comedy want?