By Cal
Link: https://www.theplacebedford.org.uk/shows/sophia-2018-online-film
Available until: 23rd May 2021
Most films are there to tell a story and to entertain the audience. If there’s any education or awareness-raising aspect, that’s a bonus, but the primary purpose of a film is usually to entertain in some way (and to make money, though that’s more a necessity than a creative element).
Sophia (an anglicization of the actual title Sofia, which I’m surprised is necessary) does have a narrative. It has characters with objectives and fears. But it seems that, more than anything, writer and director Meryem Renm’Barek wanted to raise awareness of the legal situation in Morocco with regard to sex and pregnancy and the great difficulties this can create.
As we’re informed in an onscreen message at the start of the film, according to Article 490 of the Moroccan Penal Code, anyone who has sex outside of marriage can be punished by imprisonment ranging from one month to one year. It’s really helpful to know this right from the start as it’s the kind of thing most people don’t know and can’t guess and it means we know where we are legally as soon as the film starts.
Sofia is at a family meal when she experiences stomach pains. Her cousin Lena is a medical student and swiftly makes her own diagnosis, which is confirmed when Sofia’s waters break. Lena sneaks her off to hospital without telling their parents, but the hospital won’t help an unmarried mother, especially as she can’t produce the father’s papers, until Lena uses her work connections. The hospital agrees to help, but only under certain conditions.
However much Sofia tries to avoid it, it is necessary to approach the father of the baby so Sofia takes Lena to see Omar, who lives in a far less opulent part of Casablanca than Sofia (and even more less opulent than Lena). At first, Omar does not want to know about the child, but his mother persuades him of the financial advantages of confessing.
It’s a fascinating film which could be described as dark, but that doesn’t seem entirely fair when it is a genuine way of life for Moroccans. It must be horribly difficult for them, particularly as Sofia’s sexual experience came in a moment of extreme vulnerability, but it seems wrong to denounce a whole culture as cruel, though I will say it’s problematic. The characters are simply trying to cope with a harsh regime, staying within the law themselves as far as possible and protecting Sofia’s reputation and their own as far as they can.
It also examines the question of who is/are the victim(s) in a situation like this, when everyone is restricted by the law. I would say there’s more than one victim in this story.
Meryem Renm’Barek writes the story quite simply, showing us what happens. I do rather feel as though I’m watching these characters from a distance, only really getting to know the compassionate Lena, but the story is still interesting and absorbing and I really wanted to know how it would all work out.
Maha Alemi spends most of the time looking sulky as Sofia, but she’s just had a baby – she’s probably exhausted and the last thing she wants is to jump through all these legal loopholes. Maha does well to make the character intriguing rather than simply annoying and to portray the deep sense of being almost at breaking point underneath the sulkiness. Sarah Perles’ Lena gives the film some kindness and supportiveness which is sadly absent from many of the characters, who see Sofia’s situation more as a practical problem to be solved.
Faouzi Bensaïdi and Nadia Niazi as Sofia’s parents Faouzi and Zineb seem more interested in appearances than in their daughter, though perhaps they’re simply doing what needs to be done. It is also to Sofia’s benefit if there is no negative gossip about her. Lubna Azabal is practical and efficient as Leila, Lena’s mum. Lena’s father, who does not appear, is a mysterious man with apparently unlimited funds. Hamza Khafif is a surprisingly sympathetic Omar.
A really interesting and very sad film.
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