Rock the Casbah

Rock the Casbah is a Moroccan movie by the film maker Laila Marrakchi released in 2013 and is showing now in the Lebanese cinemas.

I am not familiar with the previous work of Marrakchi but when I saw the trailer, I was intrigued by the ambiance and by the fact that Nadine Labaki acts in it. Unfortunately, the film did not rise up to my expectations.

In short, the story is about the family of a wealthy well known man (played by Omar Sharif) that reunites for his funeral. Obviously, all the family drama will flow to the surface and the old secretes will be revealed eventually.

And as hesitant as I can be to give a bad review for an Arabic movie that took a lot of effort and time to be finished, the truth is that this movie was passable at its best times and very boring at its worst. The plot is full of clichés but there are few good jokes delivered mainly by Labaki and the grandmother. The part of Omar Sharif was the most unnecessary in my opinion, it didn’t add anything to the story and felt banal. The worst part of the movie was the end of it, when all the secrets are revealed; the reactions of the characters to the truth were cringe worthy and disappointing and the acting was mediocre and unconvincing.

Finally, I would say that this movie was not a total waste of time because I got to know a little bit about Morocco and its traditions and I got to be sure that no matter how hard I try I can’t understand even one word in Moroccan Arabic dialect.  

Rating: 1.5/5

Abir Lebbos