Zanka Contact: Rock the Mostra!

Zanka Contact, directed by Ismaël El Iraki, has shone during its participation at the Venice International Film Festival. The first film of the Moroccan filmmaker won the award for Best Female Interpretation of the Orizzonti selection of the 77th edition, which took place from September 2 to 12. An edition as rock as the Moroccan film.

The public and the press, all hidden under their masks, are getting ready to discover the first film of a promising Moroccan director, Ismaël El Iraki.  His film Zanka Contact, in competition in the Orizzonti section (cinema of all horizons), immediately challenges and embarks on another dimension, that of a city with many contradictions, both ruthless and benevolent. In the streets of Casablanca, Raja (Khansa Batma), a prostitute, and Larsen (Ahmed Hammoud), a fallen rock star who deserted London to return a city he left long ago, fall in love.

The film starts off nicely, the energy is there, and so is the rock. It’s exciting, a slow-motion foreground of Khansa Batma that immediately puts you in the mood, promises a ” metaphysical ” and offbeat journey. True, intense, radical and fascinating? Not really. A road accident allows the meeting of soul mates, as an evidence. A love at first sight between Raja and Larsen, who can only find each other in chaos. Very quickly, Larsen discovers the singing talents of his beloved; he strings a few chords, she hums a tune, the song is built to the detriment of the film’s narration.

Against the background of a seemingly impossible love, there is the brutal, Raja’s pimp, played by the brilliant Said Bey, the good, faithful friend who dies before the end, led by Abderrahman Oubihem, and the bad guys, played by the astonishing Mourad Zaoui as a gentleman bastard and the charismatic Rafik Boubker as a rich Casablancaan blinded by power.

Against the background of a seemingly impossible love, there is the brutal, Raja’s pimp, played by the brilliant Said Bey, the good, faithful friend who dies before the end, led by Abderrahman Oubihem, and the bad guys, played by the astonishing Mourad Zaoui as a gentleman bastard and the charismatic Rafik Boubker as a rich Casablancaan blinded by power. The stunning Fatima Attif, as an isolated former prostitute, sets the tone for a tarantine twist. A tightly woven screenplay that has the merit of relying on all the good will, the beautiful energy and the talent of its director, but what happened? The film, conceived as a concert, with original music full of subtlety by Alexandre Tartière and Neyl Nejjai, is bland despite the rhythm.

Castles made of sand? Like a song by Hendrix, one of the director’s references, Zanka Contact has this strength of fantasy and genre film. Ismaël El Iraki has the advantage of not choosing the “easy” path of misery and realism. He bets on authenticity, takes risks, films in 35 mm helped by the talent and the look of Benjamin Rufi. Nevertheless, the young director seems to get lost in the references, too numerous: Sergio Leone, Quentin Tarantino, The Variations, Nass El Ghiwane, David Lynch, Fatih Akin, Faouzi Bensaidi. He even offers a concert of Kadavar… all with a Larsen Snake that comes straight out of The Man with the Snakeskin to replace Marlon Brando who arrives in town, his improbable jacket and his guitar as his only luggage.

The scenes follow one another with irregularity in intensity: there are some very strong scenes, others less so. One can only be touched by this sublime moment, where the lovebirds listen to Mariem Hassan, or even caught up in the scene where Said Bey explains Raja’s stormy past, which is of unheard-of intensity. But in the meantime, the spectator gets lost in a rather wobbly narrative. Ismael El Iraki proposes story arcs, a snake that dies with its tail. The staging is sometimes too posing, playing slow motion or camera effects, which prevents empathy for the characters, even though they are touching.

Khansa Batma, who has her first major film role, is visceral and raw on the screen. In front of the camera as well as on stage, she never cheats. The award for Best Actress crowns her courage and tenacity. Ahmed Hammoud as a lost rocker is convincing. He never overdoes it and delivers a lively and sincere performance. Said Bey is always cheerful, even in the dark. Every gesture, every word is right. Nothing sounds wrong. As a symbol of the source of life, of primal energy in the image of his snake, the director of Zanka Contact has the rage to live and the strength to create. So why make Tarantino or Lynch when you can make El Iraki? If he could not avoid the mistakes of a first film, perhaps too fantasized, the “Voodoo child” of the cinema gave birth to a Moroccan rock work, with a strong character. There is no doubt that Morocco has just won an ambassador of talent, who will be able to influence the national cinema, with strong works with international substance.

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