Smihi’s short film, Si Moh, pas de chance (1971), depicts a Moroccan immigrant in France. The film follows the path of the main character as he navigates the French ghettos in search of work. The short film can be looked at as semi-autobiographical in its depiction of the emotions and archetypal experiences of Moroccan immigrants in France. In 1965, Smihi began studying film in Paris, “many hours he spent at the Cinémathèque française and in the famous open seminars of Barthes and Lacan,” growing an understanding of French culture in relation to the experiences of Moroccans living there (Limbrick, “Of Marabouts” 3). Through the stylistic content, black-and-white cinematography and an Arab score, a stark contrast between the main character and the French setting is created. The black-and-white cinematography helps to contrast the darker skin of the protagonist against the many lighter shades of the French citizens. Adding to this contrast between the Moroccan immigrant and France is the playing of traditional Arab music, which is a trope that is common throughout Smihi’s work. For example, in his film El Chergui, it opens with a shot of Tangier accompanied by the playing of a traditional Berber song (Badaoui 107). While panning over shots of the French landscape, a unique score helps depict the reality faced by Smihi and other Moroccan immigrants. Additionally, the filmmaker worked creatively to forge a style that allows for a first-person perspective, as well as the insertion of moments of surrealism. All these details add up to deliver not only a semi-autobiographical story of immigration, but a heavy-handed critique on French xenophobia.
Moreover, the film’s use of a unique score as well as complete silence in certain shots adds to the biographical element and the political critique. The use of silence was very deliberate, with specific portions of the film chosen to lack sound. Silence is found in the scenes in which the protagonist, the generic Moroccan immigrant, is seen wandering the French city. This helps to depict the ostracization felt by many immigrants. The silence forces the viewers to focus on the images of the immigrant wandering alone in search of work and a place to live. Additionally, the score of Si Moh is unique in that it is very sparce with only very specific sounds being included: sounds of everyday life, traditional Moroccan music, and popular Arab/Egyptian radio broadcasts. The sounds of the city convey Smihi’s critique of French attitudes toward immigrants. Shots that depict the protagonist wandering the city in search of work are filled with the sounds of construction and city life. These sounds inform viewers that while the immigrant may have a hard time looking for work, it is not because there is no work to be found. The city is thriving, with ongoing construction signifying the growth of the city. This juxtaposes the experience of the Moroccan immigrant, who is seen struggling to find work or somewhere to live. This contrast is furthered through the choice to first depict the construction sites and growth of the French urban area followed by shots of immigrant shanty towns. Smihi also uses traditional Moroccan music during shots of the immigrant’s travels throughout the city. This is an example of the creation of flexible geographies, a reoccurring technique in Smihi’s film (Nagib 35). Flexible geographies represent the connection created within the film between France and Morocco. The traditional Moroccan music also serves the semi-autobiographical nature of the film: “music is a key aspect of Smihi’s embrace of a vernacular Moroccan culture. We hear the importance of the everyday Moroccan musical soundscape” (Limbrick, “Of Marabouts” 13). The addition of the songs helps to show the longing that many immigrants feel for traditions they may have left behind, which is something that Smihi must have felt during his time studying and working in France. Lastly, the score includes radio broadcasts in the scene shot in the sleeping quarters. The use of these radio broadcasts is representative of the shared Arab culture as they are snippets from different famous radio broadcasts. Radio is seen by Smihi as a connecting force throughout the Arab world and is featured in many of his films (Limbrick, “Of Marabouts” 9-10).
In addition to the score, Si Moh stands out with unique shots and alternating perspectives. Shots in both first person and third person, a photo reel, and unique directions to his actors help to add to the semi-autobiographical quality of the film, while also accentuating the archetypal experience of Moroccan immigrants. Throughout the short film, the director chooses to use varying perspectives in which the audience experiences a first-person view as the protagonist travels through the French city and then a third-person view as he is seen interacting with the environment. These details help to draw the viewer in and make them feel as if they are a part of the journey. Seeing the cityscape in first person allows the viewers to feel as if they are seeing what the protagonist is seeing as he searches for work: a foreign landscape that is hostile and cold. The first-person shots add to the autobiographical aspect of the film. The third-person scenes depict the classic immigrant experience, placing the main character in context with the culture and life experience of many possible audience members. Also, the photo reel that is used in the middle of the short film adds a unique element of surrealism to the film. A quick succession of black-and-white photos that flash across the screen, images of different pieces of shanty towns with images of the urbanized French city intertwined. This photo reel creates a surreal moment in which viewers are forced to look at the reality of the lived experience of Moroccan immigrants in France. This helps to draw viewers in as they try and process the fast-moving images; in this moment, viewers must understand the environment first and foremost. Finally, the style of acting that was done in the short film follows a technique that Moumen Smihi uses in all his films. His instructions: “even those who were actors by training were encouraged to lose their technique and they spoke in their respective dialects” (Limbrick, “Of Marabouts” 15) This helps to strengthen the feeling of authenticity the film has, which almost tricks audiences into feeling as if they are watching a documentary (Limbrick, “Of Marabouts” 15). The director speaks on this method saying that it was, “sociological or anthropological rather than industrial or professional” (Smihi, Écrire sur le cinéma 17-18). This explains the vivid reality that Smihi depicts in Si Moh as he tries to represent an archetypal immigrant experience.
As mentioned above, the film creates a unique first-person experience for viewers in which they experience a piece of Smihi’s own life, and the created experience of the “exemplar” immigrant (Schneider 252). This is all accompanied by a barley subtle critique on the French attitude toward immigrants. The extremely personal aspect of the film and its obvious critique are reminiscent of Smihi’s attempts at creating film for all Moroccans. This is a deviation from the norm as most Arab filmmakers work within the creative world of American or European film traditions, while Smihi works toward the creation of an Arab/Maghreb film culture (Limbrick, “Moumen” 1). Within the Moroccan artistic culture, other Moroccan filmmakers see their art as only for the elite, but Smihi’s film is obviously digestible for all audiences. This can be seen as the protagonist in Si Moh is an “exemplar” Arab immigrant. (Limbrick, “Moumen” 5, 6). The other aspect of the film that is created for any audience is the use of idiolects, a term created by Moumen Smihi himself. Idiolects are “a distinctive manner of speech but, in this case, the speech proper to a local culture—is reflected in this interaction between language and popular custom” (Limbrick, “Of Marabouts” 14). Idiolects are present in all the dialogue in the film. This allows for Moroccan viewers to connect more closely with the film, as they recognize the personality and culture depicted in the dialogues through idiolects. Through his choice of characters and setting, Smihi creates an easily understood plot — one that can communicate its symbolism through the shared experience of all Moroccans. Also, the film conveys the collapsing diasporas of the Maghrib and its one-time colonizers. As the countries in Northern Africa grow into independence, the relationships of the people within the region as well as outside of it are changing. Depicting this change through, “‘double criticism’ [which] is a profound call to embrace the mutual destabilization of languages and epistemologies that the bilingual, postcolonial situation of the Maghrib demands” (Limbrick, “Of Marabouts” 8). Smihi uses this double criticism as he comments on the ostracization felt by Moroccan immigrants while in France. The use of idiolects and the mixing of Moroccan culture and the French setting in the film show the extent to which many immigrants feel out of place in a world that does not want to grow with them in it.
Undoubtedly, Smihi’s film depicts a harsh reality presented in a way that can be understood by all audiences as he shows the struggles of immigrants living in France. Semi-autobiographical in nature, the connection between the tone and the ideas consistent with Smihi’s life and work is explored. The film also utilizes an archetypal “exemplar” of Moroccan immigrants to allow for an easily understood message to be conveyed for all audiences. A short film, Si Moh carries the immense weight of capturing the experience of millions of Moroccan immigrants. A critique that cuts apart the French attitude toward immigration through unique filming styles, the embracing of actors’ native idiolects, and a well-thought-out score all come together in Moumen Smihi’s masterpiece, Si Moh.
Author Biography
E. Rafael Jacobs-Perez is a current undergraduate at Louisiana State University; he works in research in the areas of Pedagogy, Urban Ethnography, and Digital Humanities.
References
Badaoui, Bouchra. “Review of El Chergui or the Violent Silence dir. by Moumen Smihi.” Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 47 no. 1, 2017, p. 107-110. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/668303.
Limbrick, Peter. “Moumen Smihi’s Tanjawi/Tangérois/Tangerian Cinema.” Taylor & Francis, 12 July 2012, www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09528822.2012.692190.
Limbrick, Peter. “Of Marabouts, Acrobats, and Auteurs: Framing the Global Popular in Moumen Smihi’s World Cinema.” EScholarship, University of California, 26 Mar. 2021, escholarship.org/uc/item/1r86d1c5.
Nagib, Lucia. “Towards a Positive Definition of World Cinema.” Academia.edu, 2006, www.academia.edu/7562783/Towards_a_Positive_Definition_of_World_Cinema.
Smihi, Moumen. Écrire sur le cinéma (Writing on Cinema). Slaïki Frères, 2006.
Smihi, Moumen. “Les récits de la nuit” (Stories of the Night). Écrire sur le cinéma, Slaïki Frères, 2006, pp. 128-32.
Schneider, David J. The Psychology of Stereotyping. The Guilford Press, 2004.
Film Details
Si Moh, pas de chance (1971)
France
Director Moumen Smihi
Runtime 20 minutes
