The Mother of All Lies

This one took some getting into. Or getting used to. The first half hour shows us a mean, controlling old woman sucking out all the joy out of her family, spying on everybody, dictating how they should behave, and banning any picture, which is why the director and her parents do not have any pictures. Except for a small act of rebellion.

Then we are shown her dad working on a very detailed diorama of their old neighbourhood in Casablanca and certain events and stories are reenacted using miniature puppets of the family members, neighbours, etc. But it is only towards one hour in that we are shown and told the gruesome events of that summer day in 1981, when the people took to the streets to protest price rises in flour and the brutal army reprisals that took place, an open wound for the entire population, multiple generations affected by the unthinkable acts and the cover-up. And grandma's stubborn silence and refusal to answer any question about it can be a parallel to the cowardly regime that suppressed its people with brutality and then denied all responsibility.

Although beautifully crafted, the heavy use of miniature houses, rooms, alleys, and people became tiresome, except for the reenactment of the events of that day. Let's say too much space is occupied by grandma's shenanigans. That's why I strongly believe enforced filial piety is very toxic. Respect should be earned, even by our elders. And no, I don't care about her sob story, you don't push trauma onto others like that.

Saw this at the DOC NYC 2023 Film Festival.

The Mother of All Lies premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Un Certain Regard for Best Director for director Asmae El Moudir and upon seeing this movie, I can understand why. It's an very intriguing and fascinating examination on the 1981 Bread Riots in Morocco with interesting themes of family background, lies, and ideas of memories explored. Throughout, the movie blends with real life interviews and claymation models to demonstrate the settings and discussions (similar to The Missing Picture) and Moudir provides strong directing on balancing out the two with strong emotions, themes, and great discussions that are interesting and fascinating to listen to.

The camerawork is beautiful and each participant from family members and so forth provide good discussions and insights about the massacre, family backgrounds, and the traumatic experiences. The uses of the clay models felt purposeful and many of the themes and directions from Moudir felt purposeful and not all over the place. The dialogue and emotions are really good and admittedly, there are still some emotional moments and scenes that are still burned into my memory. My own small issue is that certain pacing moments could have been better.

Overall, I can see why it won the award from Cannes and it's a great documentary.

In her film "White Lies", the director tries to draw a picture from her memory to reveal the secrets and worlds of the years of political instability and the political turmoil that accompanied it in the country. The film also reflects the personalities and spirit of the children of the 1990s in Morocco through that image The film is summed up in the end by saying that all the pictures that I browsed About that stage, it disappeared, except for the picture of King Hassan II that remained on the walls. Moroccan director Asmaa says, "For 10 years, I have been researching and collecting documents about that difficult stage, and I wanted that photo to be linked to my photo at school, returning to the difficult stages that the Moroccan street went through.