He had set out on an adventure from the remote province of Khouribga, to seek his fortune.
Now he's back there, in the only place where he truly feels at home.
His eldest son, Omar, on the other hand, has chosen to stay here, where he grew up and where he wants to build his future, with his Italian girlfriend and the child they had.
But things get complicated when the girl refuses to convert to Islam, rejecting the religious marriage Hassan wants for his son.
Reacting to the “mistake” of having believed in a multiethnic family, Omar makes a radical decision: accepting an arranged marriage with a Moroccan girl.
So he too leaves for Morocco, with the intention of reconnecting with his origins, his tradition, his religion.
It won't be an easy journey.
Unlike his father, who has finally reconnected with his roots, Omar will experience how difficult it is to find a path, a future, an identity, when one's life is torn between two worlds.
La stampa
An intimate and painful family story between Turin and Morocco
Corriere della Sera
A painful and contemporary story
Il Manifesto
A story made of dialogues and meetings, which reveals an intimacy with the subjects treated and with their stories.
DIRECTOR'S NOTES
This film was born from my meeting with Omar and his father Hassan, which occurred while I was conducting research for a documentary on the Moroccan community in Turin, the largest in Italy.
Their story struck me as emblematic of what it means to live torn between two worlds and two cultures, when a second-generation boy must confront, in order to become an adult, the burden of family and traditional inheritance. As the arranged marriage, accepted by Omar as a solution and almost inescapably written into his destiny, gradually took shape, his life, on the contrary, seemed increasingly shaky, uncertain, immersed in a discomfort that enveloped both him and his father, Hassan.
The wedding itself at the center of the story faded into the background, leaving room for its motivations and consequences for Omar and Hassan, as my confidence with them grew.
This documentary is the result of the relationship between me and its protagonists, son and father, who significantly opened their private lives to a "stranger," yet were unable to connect with each other. I believe this is because stories like this reveal the profound unease of a life torn between worlds, cultures, and diverse and contradictory bonds, to the point of making us question the very concepts of freedom and identity.
