To consider this film a nightmare rather than a prophecy is a privilege. This could happen to me tomorrow night, or in a week, or next summer, or in a couple years. At every single frame, I was thinking: what would I do if that was me?
Eventually, it became: what will I do when that is me?
It's been 10 years since the Arab spring. Thousands, if not more, have been martyred, imprisoned, tortured, raped. In most places, it feels as though nothing has changed; all the triggers of the revolution still exist, some even worse than they initially were, but most of us have accepted the current state of affairs as inevitable, as a permanent fixture of our daily existence as Arabs. And yet today, Tunisians are literally storming the streets— the silence has been broken once more, في تونس الخضراء.
Making a political movie is tough; making a political movie that can also hold its ground on a technical level, in terms of cinematography, narrative structure, and performances is even tougher. But Kaouther Ben Hania has done it, and by doing so she has given me the immense urge to set fire to every police station in the country, to shoot every filthy, rabid dog right between the eyes.
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