A heated debate has opened in Morocco, between progress and obscurantism The dispute has come to the public eye through the new film Marock (1) a play on words between the French word Maroc and the music Rock - by the young director, Leila Marrakshi.
The film, apart from its film-making qualities, breaks every taboo, not only in the Moroccan society, but also those of the Arab-Moslem society in general, succeeding in reproducing the division and the internal fight between “those who look towards the future and those who have the hallucinations of the past (the Islamists, note from the editor) (2) .The debate between obscurantism and progressive-modernism does not refer only to Morocco, but reflects a dispute which, in a more or less open way, and in a particular manner after the 11th September attack in the United States, is continuing from North Africa to the Middle East.


Marock – the film

The film Marock, which accompanies the viewers with an American sound-track, was presented at the Casablanca Film Festival in July, 2005 and subsequently, at the National Film Festival at Tangier, last December, 2005. The film was shown to the public only on the 10th March, 2006 (3) , already to the tune of great criticism. The Megarama Cinema – the only cinema, to date, which has accepted to project the film (4) - in Casablanca, has, however, in one week-end only, beaten box-office records and was taken by storm by film goers, mainly girls, to see the film of the moment, the irreverent Marock. (5) .
The film is taken from the personal story of the young, 30 year-old film director, Leila Marrakshi, in her own experience during the summer of ten years ago, in Morocco (6) . The protagonist of the film, Rita, (7) is 17 years old and has just finished high school (8) . The film is set in the city of Casablanca. Rita wears jeans and tight sweaters. She has the irreverence of a teenager: exams over, she wants to have fun with friends and pass a carefree summer between alcohol and love. She has no desire to speak of religion and, even less, of precepts to be respected.
Furthermore, Rita, like many young Moroccan people and adults, does not feel the necessity of respecting Ramadan (the month of fast and one of the five pillars of Islam), but prefers to have the right of choice regarding her own religious identity. Rita is provocative and does not hide her frustrations even from her family. One of the most shocking moments for the cinema audience is when Rita makes fun of her brother who – after having, accidentally, killed a passer-by while driving his car – begins to pray and observe the precepts of Islam. Rita falls in love with a Moroccan Hebrew youth, (9) named Youri (10) .
The girl comes from the upper part of the Casablanca society, but notwithstanding her economic status, does not represent the social conditions of the majority of the Moroccan population. – the wish to break the Moroccan taboos and the desire to choose her own identity are shared by the Liberal block of the Country, which is attempting to emerge against the Islamic class.

The Editor, Ahmed Benchemsi, of the most-read French speaking weekly in Morocco, Tel Quel, defines the film “realistic” and representative of the “frustrations” of the Country’s young people (11) , notwithstanding its frequent tendency to resemble a comedy-type film.


Extracts from the film

- The respect for prayer (12) :

Rita and her brother, Mao.
Rita: Mao, where are my jeans which ….
Rita stops and sees her brother, Mao, on his knees and about to pray.
Rita: But what’s happening to you? Have you hurt your head? Have you become an idiot? Do you think you’re in Algeria? Are you going to grow a beard, by any chance?
Mao ignores his sister and continues to pray.
Rita: Papá! Mamma! Your son has gone mad (…..). Anyway, you’re facing the wrong way. Mecca is in the opposite direction.


The visual contrast between the brother who prays and the girl in short shorts, who teases him, is a very strong image for the audience (13) . The incomprehension between the two characters is mutual. Rita, on the one side, refuses, in an almost exasperated way, any religious precepts. Mao, on the other side, does not want to understand that an individual can choose secularity.

- The period of Ramadan (14) :

Rita and the domestic, Moui Fatma.
Moui Fatma: Aren’t you ashamed of eating in front of everyone during Ramadam?
Rita: (with her mouth full) I have the monthly cycle.
Moui Fatma: “I have the monthly cycle” Since when did the cycle last more than 30 days?

The objective of the director, Leila Marrakshi, is to break the taboo of the society with regard to respecting the period of Ramadam.
Many of the young and adults eat during the period of Ramadam, hiding themselves from indiscreet eyes, as if it were a punishable sin. Marrakshi recounts this frustration of not being free to choose one’s own faith and the obstacles placed by society against a harmonious co-existence between the secular and religious spirits.

- Love between a Moslem and a Hebrew (15)

Rita and Youri.
Rita: I would like you to come with me to Paris …. we wouldn’t need to hide anymore…. we could see each other every day…. we could even live together.
Youri: What would your parents say?
Rita: We wouldn’t have to care, we will be a long way from here.
Youri: It’s not so simple.
Rita: If we really want it, it could become (….).


Youri surprises Rita as she is looking at the Star of David which he is wearing. Without saying anything, he takes off the chain and puts it around Rita’s neck. This scene was criticized by a group of Islamists, accusing it of being a “Zionist film”.


The debate

The film Marock was judged by the Moroccan director, Nabil Ayouch – whose film Une Minute de Soleil en Moins (A minute of sun, at least) risks not being shown, due to pressure from Islamic groups – as nothing more than a banal story, a very light theme of a band of youngsters who like dancing and taking off their clothes (16) .
However, aside from the story-line and the cinematography – which, in any case has attracted thousands of film goers – it is unequivocal that the film has opened, or better, has made public the debate on the liberty of expression and liberty of choice in Morocco and in the Moslem-Arab world. Between Rita’s story, set in Casablanca and that of thousands of girls in Lebanon, who dream of becoming singers like the sensual pop star, Haifa (17) , there is very little difference.
Just as the criticism of the PJD Islamic Party, Parti de la Justice e du Développement, the Party of Justice and Development), which asks for censorship of the film, Marock, is no different from the criticism of the Shiite Fundamentalist Movement, Hizbollah, which is against the innumerable song video clips showing girls in low-cut dresses, posing in provocative attitudes, which is transmitted from the Saudi-owned TV Station, Rotana, (18) .


- 1. Liberty of expression and choice:

Marock has been forbidden to minors under the age of twelve. The decision was taken by a Commission which comprised the Ministry of Culture and Communication, the Moroccan Cinematograph Centre (CCM) and the Delegates for the distribution of the film (19) . The attempt of the PJD and the Islamic factions is, however, to censor the film from the cinemas.
For the moment, the Moroccan cinemas are divided on the question of projecting the film or not, and are waiting to see the impact on the film-viewing audiences, (20) .
The daily Islamic newspaper, Attajdid, has dedicated its editorial to the film, entitled: “What are these people looking for, who have authorized the diffusion of a film which puts the Moroccans in a bad light and makes fun of their religion?” (21) . The same newspaper has published a communiqué from the Commission of the Moroccan Theatre Union, which denounces the projection of the film or any other film of the same kind, which ruins the “reputation of the Country”. (22)
The scene which has been defined by the Islamic faction, as the most “revolting” is the moment in which the protagonists of the film decide to speak about religion, while lying on the bed: an act which is considered an “offence” to the “Moroccan sentiments” (23) .

- 1.1 Motives for the censorship of Marock

The motives against the film by the Islamic factions all have the same common denominator: the fear of change. Some critics express fear of a break in traditions and the loss of identity in connection with the Islamic faith, as if to say that one could not be Moroccan without being Moslem.
Therefore, the fear of accepting a religious pluralism in the society appears explicit, and least of all, to accept that an individual Arab could embrace secularity.
Furthermore, the critics of Marock accuse the West of being guilty of importing bad values, not to be imitated because they are too corrupt.
The Western model is, however, a leitmotif throughout the film. Marrakshi, in fact, wants to represent a Morocco which is – like a great part of the Arab and Moslem world – in conflict with itself. A Morocco, in conflict between its liberal and conservative spirit, in search of its own identity, which tries, on the one hand – together with the liberal part of the Country – to hold fast to its own Country, and on the other hand, looks towards the West as a model of progress.
If that “model” is ideal or not, is not the centre of the question because, in any case, it is perceived to be such, at least, by the young, by the elite, who prefer to express themselves in French, and by the working class which, continues to emigrate to Europe.
France, in particular, the power that colonized the Country, is still seen as a social and educational model.
Mohammed Hassan El-Joundi (24) , Secretary General of the Moroccan Theatre Union:
- Marock does not respect traditions
- Marock damages the Country
The Islamic newspaper, Attajdid (25) , with a sale of 5000 copies a day:
- Marock incites the defamation of Islam

Nabil Lahlouy, Moroccan director (26)
- Marock serves the cultural colonialism

Mohamed Asli, director of A Casablanca les anges (27)
- An insult to Moroccans and Moslems


- - 2. The Moroccan Liberal reply:

Some artists have risen against the criticisms of the Islamic faction, rejecting the censorship and any restriction of liberty of artistic expression (28) . In the same way, Mohamed Mehari, one of the prominent figures of the Casablanca underground, expresses himself against the “guardians of the temple”, accusing the Islamists of wanting to judge what the young “must love, say and consume, etc.,” (29) .
Benshemsi, in his editorial in the Tel Quel, (30) , analyzes a two-page article printed in the Attajdid against Marock, defining it as “anti-semitic, xenophobic and full of insults”. The young journalist, however, dwells on the words of the Islamic newspaper, which describes “Rita, the Moslem who is disrespectful of Islam”.
Benshmsi, consequently brings his analysis towards the liberty of faith, starting with the protagonist of the film, born into a Moslem family. “The rules can force us to be hypocrites, and this is the case of millions of us, who pretend to be something we are not”. Then, let’s say it clearly, once and for all. We cannot be born Moslem (neither Hebrew, nor Christian). It is we who choose to be or choose not to be”. (31) .



Conclusion

Morocco has taken the film Marock as a pretext to bring to light the debate on modernism, which has been going on since its independence (32) and, perhaps, much before. After all, there have always been voices of the opposition like Mehdi Ben Barka (33) . Above all, in North Africa, the cradle of the reforming culture in the Arab world, which has seen the flowering of Abu Nawas’ poetry on bi-sexual love and the growth of Ibn Khaldun, sociologist.
Morocco, after years of internal repression, has seen the increase of liberty of expression after the death of King Hassan II, and the coming to power of his son, Mohammed VI who, in recent years, has given his approval also for reform concerning the female status. (34) .
The civil liberties and those of expression continue, however, to be threatened both by the monarchy and the new Islamic wave.
In 2007, Morocco will hold elections and if the population does not go en masse to vote, then the victory of the PJD seems inevitable.
In fact, the PJD has the mosques of the Country as propaganda bases, from where they can indoctrinate the electorate.
In this regard, therefore, the Moroccan Liberal daily newspapers ask which Morocco is wanted by the population: the one of progress or the one of obscurantism. (35) . Fouad Laroui, one of the best known Moroccan writers, closed the debate with a single phrase: There exists a Morocco that dreams and one which still has visions” (36) .