A son: The death to the kits *** 1/2

The life of Fares (Sami Bouajila) and Meriem (Najla Ben Abdallah) shatters when their son, Aziz, who is 11 years old, was hit by a stray bullet.

July 1, 2020

Updated July 3, 2020 to 4h03

A son: The death to the kits *** 1/2

Eric Moreault

The Sun

CRITICAL-there is nothing like a tragedy — family-addition — to serve as a revealer. A son, gripping drama backed with a strong suspense, says as much about the ties that bind a man and a woman on a tunisian society that is cracking everywhere. Beautifully performed and shot with a beautiful restraint, that is a superb feature to reconnect with the cinema room.

In A son, a ball is all shattered. Fares (Sami Bouajila) and Meriem (Najla Ben Abdallah), parents of Aziz, 11 years old, are a couple progressive and well-heeled of Tunisia, at the beginning of 2010. During a trip in the south of the country, the family ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the wake of a terrorist attack, the boy being hit by a stray bullet in the abdomen.

Panicked, the duo led Aziz to the hospital. The liver is severely damaged, a transplant is required under penalty of death. The time is counted, and only the family circle can act as a donor. However, the tests revealed that Meriem is not compatible due to blood group, and that Fares… is not the father !

It is a breaking point for the couple. The first feature film by Mehdi M. Barsaoui recalls The son’s room, the pinnacle of the career of film director Nanni Moretti, and winner of the Palme d’or 2001, in his exploration of the pain related to the absence and the unsettling of certainties.

When the Italian adopted a more psychoanalytical on grief and resilience, A son, departs from the nuclear family to open on a more broad perspective, both moral and social, with a invoice very authentic, never plated.

Meriem tries desperately to find her lover, lost sight of the past 10 years, prepared to suffer the consequences of a love of adultery in a patriarchal society which deals with the rise of the islamic fundamentalist. Fares, to him, is offered a pact as faustian.

A man offers him a liver — and a table of operation in a private clinic — in exchange for a large sum of money. This is, obviously, a traffic of bodies on which the father wants to close his eyes. Because Aziz is dying…

Images of Tunisia are beautiful.

Axia Films

Mehdi M. Barsaoui filmed beautifully, naturalistically, these desperate parents, in keeping often big plans, but without falling into pathos. Its open end is absolutely consistent with all of the above.

He can count on the performance of the intense and nuanced to Najla Ben Abdallah, who has a flourishing tv career, tunisian, and Sami Bouajila. The experienced interpreter (Native witnesses, Omar me to kill…) has also received the best actor award in the section Orizzonti at the Venice film Festival 2019.

Crowned with several récomprenses, A son , among others, won best film at the Festival of Hamburg (2019). The open end is consistent with all of the above.