The Moroccan Symphony

"La Symphonie Marocaine" is the story of a group of down-on-their-luck Moroccan musicians living in a trainyard who get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to audition for a symphony in England. Predictably, the disparate group, including a Lebanese war veteran, a beautiful prostitute, a mute and a stuck-up woman waiting to emigrate to Canada band together to make beautiful music. 90% of the film is in Arabic, and 10% in French (much like life in Morocco).

According to the synopsis, director Kamal Kamal was a musician before becoming a filmmaker and it shows. The film is at its best when the group is practicing together, and a scene in the middle of the film features the group singing a beautiful haunting melody- half classical, half traditional- amidst several rings of fire, is truly memorable.

However, these moments are few and far between. Sadly, although everyone does their best, the characters and the melodrama are not particularly interesting and the story mostly forgettable. There are a few interesting twists, but not enough to sustain the film. Director Kamal obviously has some talent as an editor and a composer, and I don't want to diss a film from a developing country, but this film is a minor effort.