“Amel and the beasts”, a moving film about a courageous mother

Mehdi Hmili’s camera is as close as possible to faces and bodies. She is not an accomplice, rather a witness to these shattered lives in post-Ben Ali Tunisia. The Jasmine revolution is far away, not even a memory anymore. For the young Moumen who dreams of signing for the Espérance de Tunis football club, his mother Amel, embodied by an overwhelmingly authentic Atef Ben Mahmoud and the father drowned in alcohol, the present is a nightmare. “It’s all my fault, I lost everything,” says the mother, helpless. Exactly, no, nothing is his fault. No, Amel has only suffered: an absent alcoholic husband, an abusive boss, a rape, a long descent into hell. However, Amel had dreams. Before they are crushed by corrupt police and the judicial machine.

amel dream

Amel dreams of smiles and a bright future for her son Moumen. The mother-son relationship is fusional, full of laughter and complicity. The scene where the mother washes her nearly adult son’s back in the shower speaks to the depth of this bond, as does the hilarious scene of the mouse sneaking around the living room. Amel is a worker in a factory. Amel is a strikebreaker, and does not hesitate to sway her colleagues. She is ready for any sacrifice to make Moumen happy. A friend of his boss knows someone who could sign his footballer son to the prestigious club in the capital. Amel agrees to have dinner with him. He tries to rape her in the car. The police surprise them: the man is cleared and released, Amel is sentenced to prison for “contempt and adultery”. It’s the law, it’s the patriarchy, it’s Tunisia liberated from Ben Ali. It is the Tunisia of the law of the strongest, of the richest. Amel’s family breaks up.

Until the end of the night

The director looks deep into the eyes of Tunisian society, with empathy and lucidity. He says this Tunisia far from the image of the postcard, ignored by tourists. Expelled from her home, denied by her bigoted family, fleeing this daylight that doesn’t want her, Amel plunges into the world of the night and finds a job in a cabaret. We discover with Mehdi Hmili’s camera this abundant, violent, carnal nightlife, despised by good society. In addition to daytime monsters, Amel faces nocturnal beasts. Without news of her son since his arrest, she goes looking for him. Moumen joined a prostitution ring. He sells his body to men who abuse him for a pass. The director, an admirer of John Cassavetes, films the night without false modesty. He does not seek to demonstrate but to show. What if salvation comes from the chaos of the night? Is it an autobiographical film? “With my mother, we lived in shame and suffered in fear. But never again now. This film is our story.” explains the director.

Amel and the beasts is carried by moving actors. It’s a film about love, struggle and redemption. A movie that takes to the guts.

Technical sheet

French title: Amel and the beasts

Original title : Streams

Direction and Screenplay: Mehdi Hmili

Gender : drama

Duration : 122 minutes

Actors: Afef Ben Mahmoud, Zeineb Sawen, Iheb Bouyahia, Sarah Hanachi, Slim Baccar, Noomen Hamda, Fakher Wahchy, Hakim, Boumsaoudi, Noureddine Souli and Elyes Rebhi

Summary: Amel is a worker in a factory in Tunis. Her boss puts her in touch with a businessman who can allow her son to join the local football club. Taking advantage of the situation, the man tries to abuse her. The police surprise them but it is Amel who is finally declared guilty of indecent assault and adultery. On her release from prison, she goes in search of her son in the underground nights of Tunis, populated by predators and a youth in search of freedom.

Release April 26