Les Chevaux de Dieu

The terrorist bombings in the Moroccan city of Casablanca didn't get as much attention as those in New York, London or Madrid. The five attacks were aimed at western and Jewish targets, killed 45 people, and were carried out by Moroccans, all of them young men from Sidi Moumen, a nearby slum. The attacks came as a shock, because for an Arab country, Morocco is considered rather moderate and open-minded. So why did these young terrorists carry out such gruesome attacks in their own city?

The film 'Le chevaux de Dieu' (God's Horses) tries to answer that question, and does it in an impressive way. For the most part, the film shows the daily life of young men in the slums. It is a cruel environment, an urban jungle full of violence, drugs, alcohol, corruption and extortion. And above all: without any hope. It is this desperate life that provides the fertile ground for frustration and rebellion.

The film shows clearly that the young men at no point deliberately choose for Muslim fundamentalism. One of them is arrested for throwing a stone to a police car and returns from prison as a faithful Muslim. Another kills his boss to prevent a rape, and is told by the religious community that God forgives him, provided that he starts praying and believing in Allah.

For the young slum dwellers, faith and religion is a tempting way of life. It preaches forgiveness, whereas the slum is full of violence. It is clear and deliberate, not chaotic like slum life. Its most important feature is discipline, which is in stark contrast with the loose morals in the slum dwellings.

The young men are fascinated by the Muslim organization. Slowly their lives are getting controlled by it. When the leader tells them they are selected for a special assignment, they feel honoured. Even when it becomes clear what this assignment is, most of them don't hesitate for a second.

The film doesn't approve of Muslim fundamentalism in any way. It merely shows the mechanics of it. That's why it is such a good movie. Watching the young men being absorbed by their religion, you almost pity them. But most of all, you understand why they do what they do. That's more than most other post-9/11 films have accomplished.

Moreover, the acting is incredibly subtle, and the cinematography is so effective that, at the end of the film you think you know the Sidi Moumen neighbourhood really well. When you go watch the movie, pay attention to the last shot; it is a beauty. In an amazing traveling shot, the camera circles around a group of kids playing football in the slums and watching the fatal explosion in the distance. Then, without cutting, the camera pans towards a cliff, we see the ball falling down and disappearing in the darkness. 'Le chevaux de Dieu' is a gem, and it would be a pity if it stays unnoticed by western audiences.

I finally found a version of this film that was not dubbed into French! Over the years I have downloaded, rented and started watching it but gave up as the language was not the original Darija.

I watched the film with a sense of mounting horror and despair. There was not a moment of fat in this feature that told the story of various youths and their families' lives in the sprawling slum of Sidi Moumen. The shantytown had been allowed to exist and enlarge during "Les Années de Plomb" (the years of lead) under the careless watch of King Hassan ll. There is no way out apart from crime, prostitution or marriage to a rich person if one is good looking.

We see the lives of the protagonists from childhood through to the atrocities and how they are twisted and formed by the utter hopelessness of their situation. The local Mafias act on behalf of the cops until the latter decide an arrest is needed, then someone is casually thrown in jail. One of these is Hamid, rough elder brother of Tarek who is ensnared by radical Islam in the klink. Unfolding events trap others too, including Tarek and his friends.

There is a theme throughout the film of hidden homosexuality. Nabil is raped as a preteen and is Tarek's lover later when they are teens despite the latter being in love with Ghislaine, a local beauty. The repair shop's boss tries it on with Nabil too and this is the beginning of the lads' descent into fundamentalism. It's quite subtly done in the film. This is Morocco after all and such things are not spoken about.

The radicalisers are grotesquely true to life in their way of caging and channeling their victims into believing that martyrdom while killing apostates and non-Muslims is acceptable, nay desirable. Of course, they would never go on a mission themselves.

The part that made me weep was when the lads were taken on a solidarity holiday to the mountains just before their mission. These young men were not evil, they were kids who had been deluded and deceived, splashing in mountain streams that they had never had the opportunity to see before and playing football. They had been seduced to terrible effect.

And now I have to declare my interest. I live in Morocco although not in Casablanca. The new tramway extends all the way to Sidi Moumen giving new opportunities to the remaining slums. Morocco has clamped down on jihadists using a network of spies and informers. However, I was by chance in Casablanca the night of the attacks, staying in a hotel 200 yards away from the Safir which was partially blown up. Like an idiot, having heard the explosion from my hotel, I went out to see what had happened. I got about 40 yards down the street before I was lifted off my feet by two burly cops and dragged back to my hotel and slapped hard once they had got me into reception.

I was bewildered ever since and have never truly understood the attraction of being radicalised, either these guys or other terrorists elsewhere. This masterpiece of a film goes a long way to explaining the process to me.

This is an immaculate movie that show many stories in one. Yes it's about how kids became terrorists, but is about much more. About poverty, about the mind's fight for peace in an environment with limited choices and opportunities. Either all out in crime or all out in (the wrong aspects of manipulated) religion or be the chump in the middle being slapped around ..until you are pushed to an extreme side. Where wolves- like in every nation- are ready to recruit these poor, non educated, hopeless young men with a promise of either riches in this world or in the afterworld. When it comes down to it...every army or gang is filled with these kind of men..albeit there can be a big difference of course in how poor or hopeless the young men/women are depending on where they grew up and reside. The need for a sense of direction and purpose. Love and fear in a dog eat dog world. How to stay clean in so much dirt ? I love how this film gives a voice to this reality. This is (also) what art is all about..to voice that what needs voicing or to give a voice to those that are screaming but aren't seen nor heard. Expression is what saves one from imploding or exploding ..carrying so much weight. The director has that privilege of expression, that the people in the movie dont have. But still..it gives a voice..even ifs not directly theirs. And furthermore to hopefully open the eyes of people that dont know about these lives, and complexity of life in general. To those that are open to it. Beautifully filmed. A favourite.

The cinematic piece offers a breath of fresh air when it comes to the stigmatized dehumanization of muslim youth, and brings to light the root of the issue instead of the unreconsilable outcome.

This movie creates a back story about the people responsible for the terrorist attacks in Casablanca in the 2000s. Those are real events but the movie doesn't really deal with them per say.

The movie focuses on a rendition (best guess account) of the lives of the terrorists starting at early age and up until that fateful day. It is a movie that tries to explore life and hope and struggle. It aims to give a perspective behind the act. Movies like CITY OF GOD and TSOTSI did the same for criminals, while this one deals with terrorists essentially.

I loved the early parts of the movie, but as it progressed it became very obvious and predictable, outside of the real events that are well known. The things it used artistic vision for, those were completely see through and predictable, and that is a huge problem for any production. As viewers we have to put it through a litmus test and not give it a free pass because of the subject matter; a movie should stand on its own script regardless what it is about.

The story starts great, showing us the early life of the main protagonists i would say from around age 8, keeping in mind one brother is decently older than the other. Those growing up parts, are a great exploratory story, almost a documentary (made up one) on their own. Because the movie spans around 20 years a lot takes place, a lot changes, including the cast. Many movie years later we enter the part where we transition from that childhood story into adulthood story and the radicalization part of the movie. This is where things begin to bog down big time.

I have to say it feels like two different movies and i did not enjoy the second part. I felt that it was incomplete. I don't know, maybe the writers and producer were trying to thread carefully with the issue but watching this movie, i do not see the radicalization they wanted to show. It does not hit home. There is no energy behind it. If anything, i expected the movie to play out with the kids we saw become crime king pins; no really. That's how they set it up. The shift towards religion is not portrayed well. The scenes that we get are i'm sorry to have to say that, really low energy and acted out subpar. Monotone is a simple catch all summary. Now i understand something about inner peace and calm in the face of eventual suicide, but the motivation of becoming a "horse" is not shown here. They wanted to show the gradual path towards the final act, yet from first adult scene to credits, there is no change. They act the same, do the same. There is no curve. It just becomes it. Over and over the same thing scene after scene. Same scene content, different movie month. But there is nothing behind them to show escalation or real increase of commitment or anything at all really. The viewer eventually walks away with nothing gained on the subject as credits roll.

For a movie whose purpose was to tell us how bad life, hopelessness, poverty, corruption push people towards what they can find solace in (whether good or evil) it does not achieve this purpose. If anything from what it showed, those boys should have never become radicalized because the content they used was not there for that to occur. Again i understand it could be self censored for variety of reasons but still, how can you deliver half a movie that captivates the viewer with their earlier life and turn it into nothingness in arguably the vital parts?

To me they really couldn't put into script what they wanted to do here. I keep saying that i cannot tell if that is on purpose or due to faults but ultimately does it really matter? If you make a movie about such a subject, you have to have a very clear vision of how you will proceed at all stages. This is not a moral story or a judgement story either. The movie does not plant thoughts about right or wrong. It just makes an account of what they think happened based on the location and time the movie covers ( 1980s-2000s Marocco slums). They could have done so much more with that. The connection between childhood and adulthood is completely missing, the duality between family and friends is very shallow. There are few scenes that somewhat attempt to show the protagonists manifesting how they have changed on those around them, but they are so generic and completely arbitrary and reasonable for somebody in a muslim country they do not even stand out as events. I watched it twice and i just cannot find the radicalization process they wanted to show. They simply failed to cover that properly. This is why this movie feels so bland at the end.

As a last thought, one thing it did do, is it did cover how poor and low educated people are exploited by others for their purpose. That is the one thing it did deliver on properly. Which again is extremely generic and it applies to a lot of things in life and not exclusive to the situation in this movie. Every time i try to give the movie credit, i really cannot. The thing i just praised it for, i discounted it at the same time. And that is just the situation here. Once you press on the sensitive aspects, HORSES OF GOD has nothing to push back with.

7/10 only because of early story and captivating start.