Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets

A variation on Hector Babenco's great 'Pixote' this follows the theme of abandoned street kids, being played by real street kids.

But "Ali" is much less gritty and naturalistic in style, if not story. Beautiful widescreen photography, some playful animated moments, and a slightly less despairing feel (although it's still pretty dark).

A young street boy is killed, and his friends try to figure out how to and his street friends try to figure out how to get him 'buried like a prince', hoping to give his sad, lost life some meaning in death. All the while they have to fend off attacks from the local street gang, find the boy's mother and let her know about her son's sad demise, etc.

Very well acted for the most part, and has it's share of touching, heartbreaking moments. But it also feels manipulative and 'moviesh' at others. Certainly a good film, if not quite at the level of it's ancestors.

This movie brings back memories of growing up in morocco, although the movie puts you in the front seat of the realities in real life much of this goes ignored by the rest of the populace. The feeling is of numbness to the harsh realities that these vagabonds have to go through. Most of these kids never make it to adulthood and if they do they are seriously psychologically ill. After watching this movie you will undeniably feel resentment to society and blame yourself for being part of it. Overall I think the movie was well directed, the characters were AMAZING (I hope that they get some type of recognition) some of the scenes are beautifully shot. Vote 10+ from my part

This is definitely one of the best films that i've seen lately. It tells the story of Moroccan street children who live in the filth of the gutters of present-day Casablanca. These homeless urchins, with a few exceptions, make up a gang of at least 75-100 kids who pick pockets, sniff glue and are led by Dib, a modern-day Fagin. A band of 3 ids, following a dreamer- Ali Zaoua, splits from this gang. When Ali is killed by a kid from the gang, the story begins.

We follow these children as they try to give Ali a funeral, and what we see in their world is at times terrifying, or at least extremely upsetting and unsettling. Part of what makes the film so effective is that the children are not actors- they are real street children. they are not Hollywood's dirty Orphan Annies, in pre-stained clothing and manufactured dirt- they are real. Dib is one of the few professional actors in the film. It is at times difficult to see because of this. Still, Ali Zaoua is an extremely good and possibly great film.

Only seldom have I seen a movie that's so realistic. It definitely has an enlighting influence on ones mind. The way you look at the world really does change after seeing those poor and yet so, in a heart-touching way, funny streetchildren. One of my top ten movies, I assure you !!

I recently saw this film at the Santa Barbara international film festival. I glanced over the brief summary, and the fact that it came from Morocco intrigued me. However, it started an hour after a movie I really wanted to see started. The movie I went to wasn't that great and I ended up sneaking out of that one and into Ali Zaoua. I'm now glad I did so because what I saw was one of the most brutally realistic and terrifying, yet beautiful and poetic, inspiring and redemptive movies I've ever seen.

This movie is not for the faint of heart. Since it takes place in the poverty of a third world country, in places where the homeless in America seem spoiled in comparison, this movie portrays the harsh realities these kids endure everyday to survive, whether from the world around them or each other, no matter what the cost. The actors seem casted right off the streets, bearing scars and other physical traces of the nightmares they live through. The fact that the characters are only small children forced to live lives that even an adult would have a difficult time with makes this movie even more powerful.

At times this movie seemed like a version of Lord of the Flies, but I can't go into that any more without potentially spoiling the movie (or Lord of the Flies for those who haven't seen the movie or read the book). All I will say, however, is that the movie doesn't center around what seems to be aspects from Lord of the Flies and has much more good points about it than bad ones, that the movie carries much further than these aspects.

I can't say enough about this movie. I've only seen it one time and now I can't seem to find it on video or DVD. I can only hope that it comes out on DVD and in widescreen format.