It takes a lot of courage to challenge people to see the world through your own eyes. Especially when the 'delivery system' overshadows the payload. In his documentary film, 'Enemy of Islam? A Meeting with Nouri Bouzid', Stefano Grossi engages the controversial Tunisian filmmaker, Nouri Bouzid. Bouzid does not speak favorably about his ethnic history or religion, even though he sincerely cares about his people's destiny. Before this film ignites the flames of contention among you, be careful to observe the various interpretations of Islam that each character represents.
The film grabs our attention from the beginning with a haunting shot racing us toward the burnt out husk of a truck across the Arabian desert. Segments of Bouzid's films are layered into the documentary. With a touch of mise en abyme we're led on and off the set by a series of onset conflicts and dialogues between Lofti and Nouri about the morality and the politics of the picture, 'Making Of' (2006).
The tension is raised when the young dancer, Lofti walks off the set. The script requires his fundamentalist employer to condemn his preoccupation with modern dance as a sin. Lofti's version of Islam is not characterized by any fundamentalist's version. This unforeseen twist angers him and he feels as though he has been lured into a dangerous situation by Bouzid that will lead to serious consequences.
Lofti is a dancer and as an artist his aspirations are also contradictory to fundamentalism. Ironically, as a Muslim devoted to Islam, he's as guarded with his own Islamic beliefs as the radical Islamic fundamentalist, or Jew, or Christian might be with their own belief systems. The young actor has trouble seeing that both he and Nouri are climbing the same mountain, but not necessarily taking the exact same path.
With reference to the revolution and observations of a country torn, this documentary shows without bias, Bouzid's exposure of the cruelty and hypocrisy of the cultural facade of Tunisia and the Arab state. This documentary features a cross section of Bouzid's films which embellish his rebellious tendencies including, 'Man of Ashes' (1986) and 'Millefeuille' (2012).
EJ Wickes/Cult Critic/CICFF