The misogyny infecting Tunisian society even after the political changes wrought by the Arab Spring is powerfully dramatized in Kaouther Ben Hania and Khaled Barsaoui’s adaptation of a 2013 book by Meriem Ben Mohamed and Ava Djamshidi. The story focuses on Mariam (Mariam Al Ferjani), a college student raped by several policemen while out walking on the beach with Youssef (Ghanem Zrelli), a young man she meets at a dance party. The couple’s efforts to get help, both at hospitals and police stations, are cavalierly or cruelly rebuffed, and after Youssef, the only man who has shown Mariam any sympathy, is taken away on suspicion of revolutionary activity, she is left entirely alone to deal with the authorities, who use every underhanded means to get her to drop her complaint. Her attackers even show up to threaten her again. Presented in nine chapters, each of which is shot in a single take, the film is deliberately elliptical, only gradually clearing up ambiguities left by abrupt transitions: in fact, what precisely happened to Mariam is not revealed until very near the semi-hopeful close. Although the narrative technique gives the picture a rather distant, chilly feel, Beauty and the Dogs still packs a strong dramatic punch, due in great measure to Al Ferjani’s committed performance. A timely foreign drama, this is recommended. (F. Swietek)
Beauty and the Dogs
Oscilloscope, 100 min., in Arabic w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $34.99, Blu-ray: $39.99, June 26 Volume 33, Issue 4
Beauty and the Dogs
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