Horses of God
| Horses of God | |
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Film poster
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| Directed by | Nabil Ayouch |
| Produced by | Frantz Richard |
| Written by | Jamal Belmahi |
| Starring | Abdelhakim Rachid Abdelilah Rachid Hamza Souidek Ahmed El Idrissi El Amrani Badr Chakir |
| Music by | Malvina Meinier |
| Cinematography | Hichame Alaouié |
| Edited by | Damien Keyeux |
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Release date
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Running time
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115 minutes |
| Country | Morocco Belgium |
| Language | Moroccan Arabic |
Horses of God (French: Les chevaux de Dieu, Arabic: يا خيل الله, translit. Ya khayl Allah) is 2012 Moroccan drama film about the 2003 Casablanca bombings. It was directed by Nabil Ayouch, and based on the novel The Stars of Sidi Moumen by Moroccan writer Mahi Binebine. The film won several awards, and was Morocco's submission for the 85th Academy Awards (held in February 2013).
The film opens in 1994. Yachine (his real name is Tarek), his violent older brother Hamid, and Yachine's friends Nabil (son of Tamou, a local prostitute and singer),pot-smoking Fouad, and Khalil live in extreme poverty in Sidi Moumen, a shanty town on the edge of Casablanca in Morocco. Hamid earns money by acting as a drug mule. The boys steal liquor from Khalil's father's wedding, and Hamid rapes a drunk Nabil in front of the others.
In 1999, the shanty town is significantly larger, and Hassan II of Morocco has just died. Yachine, Nabil, Fouad, and Khalil spend their time smoking pot, and Yachine is in love with Ghislaine, Fouad's sister. Hamid is now a major drug dealer, paying off the policeman known as "Pitbull" and forcing Yachine to stay out of the drug business. Religious zealots force Tamou to leave town. Hamid is given a two-year prison sentence after throwing a rock at Pitbull's car. Yachine is forced out of the marketplace in the medina, and Nabil gets him a job repairing engines for repairman Ba'Moussa.
The day after the September 11 attacks, Hamid is released from prison, having given up drugs and embraced radical Islam. Yachine kills Ba'Moussa after the drunk man attempts to rape Nabil. Nabil gets Hamid, and he and his radical friends hide the body. Hamid gives the two refuge in an Islamic compound hidden within the shanty town, and Yachine and Nabil meet with Abou Zoubeir—who begins to recruit them into radical Islam. Nouceir, a former neighborhood enemy and now one of Hamid's close friends, intimidates Khalil and Fouad into joining the cell also. All four begin learning jujutsu. Yachine, feeling immense guilt over murdering Ba'Moussa, spends the night with Nabil. But he is also drawn to Zebeir's message of forgiveness through adherence to radical Islam.
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Wikipedia