Reviewed by Sunchica Unevska "A Son", directed and written by: Mehdi Barsaoui, roles: Sami Bouajila, Najla Ben Abdallah, Youssef Khemiri, photography: Antoine Heberle, Tunisia / France / Lebanon / Qatar 2019
Where are the boundaries when you face up with your ego?
The Arabic film "A Son" is watching in one breath. Not only because it is well made, but above all because of the subject, for this vertiginous family drama that just anyone can not touch. When your world falls apart as you try to save your loved one, such a tension is created, such a psychological but also a real race against time, in which there is no place for reconsideration, even though what is happening is impossible without it. This is one of those famous Iranian dramas that, with their twisting and revealing some hidden things, can hit so hard, take out what we least expect from us, but here more because of the theme and the way the film is directed than because of the depth that characterizes those Iranian amazing films.
"A Son" is the debut film by Tunisian director Mehdi Barsaoui, which had its premiere at last year's Venice Film Festival, where it won the prize of the Ecumenical jury and the award in the program "Horizons" for best actor Sami Bouajila, who is one of the most interesting and talented European actors at the moment. "A Son" is a story about love, family, the struggle for life during which such unexpected things will come to the surface that put many things to the test. Fares (Sami Bouajila) and Meriem (Najla Ben Abdallah) have a solid marriage and are in love like the first day, but when their 11-year-old son Aziz is accidentally hit by an Islamic terrorist group, things suddenly take a completely different turn. Aziz needs an emergency transplant, but how to save Aziz if one of them is not actually a biological parent.
This is not a new or original story, we have seen many such films, there is nothing what it’s distinguished, but what Barsaoui manages to do, is to play with the limits that are imposed culture and society (in terms of transplantation of organs, and in terms of the male role in the family), those boundaries which seemingly looks invisible, especially when it comes for the modern middle-class family, but who all of a sudden float when things will be put on test. Because, you can't run away from yourself, especially not when you're faced with the most hidden, with the sense of your own identity, like it or not, determine our culture and origins. How you can face with the biggest fear, sacrifice everything although the child is not biologically yours or sink in their own sense of worthlessness and ego. But, also of betrayal, of something at least expected, of something what in a second destroys the world in front of your eyes, a world that is not what you imagined, what you believed in, but it is your world, the world you belong and you couldn’t give up, not when life depends on you.
Barsaoui, although debutant, manages to reach much wider, to reconsider the legal and social, but also religious issues, without the story would not be complete. Fares is suddenly faced with such moral questions, while he look at those abused children whose organs are being traded, while listening the promise, that for a certain price things can already be the same tomorrow??? On the other hand, there is a pain, there is burden, there is cheating, here is fall apart of all that was sacred for you and here is a child who you love endlessly, regardless of everything... The times go on, whirl pulls everything with himself and does not give you any moment to find yourself in all of this. Unexpectedly you are faced with such things you do not know how to get out at all, what is right, what is moral, how to act, does saving the life justify those incredible actions and decisions, which suddenly for a short time rise before you.
Because of that, young Barsaoui, who is screenwriter and editor, made a good film, because manages so precisely to draw up characters, manages to make you angry and to force you ask yourself, what would you do, is this justified or not and where the boundaries really are. Which boundaries, love, moral, social or personal, where are the boundaries, what is right, how to face the unbearable, how to help the child when all by yourself do not know how to behave with everything, and moreover to make decisions that would determine their lives. Of course, not just of the child. And that is the greatness of the author, who manages in such a frequently used topic to find the angle, to find the right rhythm, to lead the atmosphere and the dynamics of events in a way does not give you peace, to capture those incredibly painful emotional conditions and make exceptional shots that speak well with the silence. Because, these are issues so every day, so difficult and so true. What would you do?
Indeed, the author tries to reach even too many aspects, yet the film is watching in one breath, especially due to excellent acting of Bouajila and Ben Abdallah, whose pain, internal struggle, uncertainty and anticipation is well drawn on their faces. It is an incredible drama, definitely one of the best Arab films in the past year, drama that move you from the place, not because it is new, but because that intensity and fight are something that strikes to the essence. And excellent Barsaoui come to an end, because with rescue the child is not saved everything, the questions still are floating in the air and interposed between you as a wall whose weight you feel in every moment, especially when you look each other in the eye... "A Son" is a breathtaking drama, not because of something unseen, but because of something unbearable, but to capture it on a right way requires really great talent and skill.
