Zaïna, cavalière de l'Atlas
Directed: Bourlem Guerdjou
Country: France/Germany/Morocco
Language: French/Tamazight
Genre: Adventure, Drama
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436982
Summary
Visually beautiful film about a young girl trying to survive in the male dominated world of horse racing.
Movie Reviews
Author: (gert-32) from IMDb -- Brussels, BelgiumEurope is a continent which lends itself easily for starting up co-productions. ZAÏNA, CAVALIÈRE DE L'ATLAS is another proof of it. France, Morocco and Germany joined forces to produce this movie, which story takes place a long time ago somewhere in North-Africa. This results in the strange fact that, during that time period, all the inhabitants seemed to speak French. Oh, well, we'll forgive the producers because this clearly is a decision made from a commercial point of view.
Zaïna is an 11-year-old girl whose mother just died. According to
Zaïna, her stepfather, Omar, was responsible for this incident. Then
her real father, Mustapha, shows up. Until recently he didn't know of
Zaïna's existence. She is entrusted to Mustapha and must accompany him
during a 20-day-long voyage to Marrakech. There Mustapha will join the
most prestigious horse-race of North-Africa. Omar, being very
displeased with all this, starts to pursue them. During their difficult
journey through the inhospitable Atlas-mountains father and daughter
slowly grow towards each other.
This movie promises us adventure and excitement. Sadly it results in a
movie lacking those elements. The only (not very spectacular)
action-scenes are a sword-fight between the gangs of Omar and Mustapha,
a nightly encounter with horse-thieves and the horse-race in the end
(which is not so prestigious after all). The three sword-fights you can
find in the movie are always over before they really started. And the
blue/green-screen effects during the scene were our protagonists cross
a ridge in the mountains are painfully obvious. I admit, this is not an
American big-budget production, so you can forgive the effects being a
bit transparent, but you can't forgive the Hollywoodian ending of this
movie. Further more, this movie tries to make a statement about the
place of women in society as portrayed during that time-period the
movie takes place in, only to deny that statement at the end.
The dialogues are rather scarce and not really fluent. And it doesn't
help that most of the actors give a fairly wooden performance. Though
the three main characters do shed some tears at one point or another,
all the actors seem kind of emotionless (except for the cheering ladies
in the end).
So are there any reasons to see this movie? Most certainly. The
settings and photography of the landscapes are astonishingly beautiful.
From the desolate, rocky desert over the snowy mountain-ranges to the
idyllic green oasis with a gentle rippling little stream running
through it. Aziza Nadir, though very young, gives a decent performance
as Zaïna and keeps strong between all the male testosterone. The way
Mustapha and Zaïna start to appreciate each other more and more is
beautiful to behold. And, of course, there's so many horses (not to
mention the extol of them) that any horse-lover would want to see this
movie.
ZAÏNA, CAVALIÈRE DE L'ATLAS is probably not Oscar-material (though it
tries hard), but it is worth a watch. If only for the magnificent
landscapes supported by an adequate soundtrack.