A singer in the bars of her small country town in Morocco, Touda (Nisrin Erradi) wants to leave everything to move to Casablanca. The opportunity to offer a better education for her son, the opportunity to finally realize her dream, that of becoming a sheikhate, an artist who performs the aita. This musical genre was initially carried by men, then was adopted by women to sing texts addressing both love and resistance. And these artists are as much adored by some men as they are considered bad women. A dichotomy from which Touda will try to free himself.
Moroccan culture and universal reach
Director Nabil Ayouch has a habit of including strong women in his films, and Everybody Loves Touda is new proof of this. Present in all the scenes, the actress Nisrin Erradi, who learned the art of aita from professional sheikhates, is thus astonishing in going through all the difficulties she encounters with a look or a gesture. His intensity of play is the strong point of the film, and allows us to understand the full extent of his character.
Because, unsurprisingly, it is against the patriarchy that Touda is waging his real fight. A battle which takes place in the film through terrible scenes, notably the introduction and the final sequence shot which show how the violence generated by this system can take different forms. And if this story of female emancipation is definitively anchored in Moroccan culture, its scope is universal.
Everybody Loves Touda by Nabil Ayouch, in theaters from this Wednesday, December 18. Duration: 1 hour 42 minutes.
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