Ala Eddine Slim’s third feature film Agora is a dense, multilayered attempt to investigate contemporary Tunisian society and its inability to resolve the lingering issues of a shared past. The story is told from the POV of a dream and/or nightmare of two animals, a blue-coloured female dog and a black crow. Agora premiered at the Locarno Film Festival competing in the Concorso Internazionale.
Slim’s starting point is a deserted area where a dog and a crow are sleeping next to each other. They converse, and exchange words about the dream/nightmare they are having, through Arabic dialogue inscribed on the screen. The dog speaks of her distrust of both the people who live in the village near them, and her anxiety about the people who are coming from afar. Narrating the core story from the perspective of an animal builds on a rich Arabic storytelling legacy that goes back to the eighth century and the creation of the Kalila and Demna fables. Slim’s approach remains fresh and unique as the film’s plot unfolds, which proves liberating as he switches from one narrative line to another.
In a remote city in Tunisia, Fathi (Neji Kanaweti), a local police officer, and Amine (Bilel Slatnia), a doctor in a public clinic, are concerned when three individuals who were killed under unknown circumstances and whose bodies have disappeared, rise to life again.
With very limited resources and capabilities, both Fathi and Amine try to find a scientific and reasonable solution to the phenomenon with the resources they have, without alerting the village and spreading panic. Minutes before the middle of the film, a second investigator and super-cop Omar (played by Majd Mastoura), working in a sophisticated police unit in the capital, arrives with his neat staff in their fancy cars, trying to shake things up. His mission is not to address the problem, but rather to maintain order, quell dissent, and leave room for any rumours or doubts.
After a captivating first half, Slim abandons the investigative line of the plot, only to start a new line, which is the harshest part of the animals’ dream. As part of a deal between Omar and the village elders and clerics, they cover up the ongoing crisis in exchange for getting rid of stray dogs and crows.
This leads the film to carry an environmental angle, as Slim flirts with the idea of the original inhabitants of the land, and how the new inhabitants are solving their problems by exterminating the originals. In the film, one of the superficial solutions to solve the inexplicable phenomenon is to kill stray dogs and spray trees to eliminate crows.
Slim’s filmography champions nature and makes room for cinematography that captures vivid atmosphere. His earlier films have received considerable critical acclaim: The Last of Us (2016), which earned the Lion of the Future Award at Venice, and Tlamess (2019), which was chosen for the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes.
These ‘returnees’, who are not dead and not alive, arrive to haunt the village not as ghosts, but by bringing up painful memories and societal shortcomings. They arrive with a ‘curse’, causing the crops and the fish in the sea to die. It is refreshing to see Arab filmmakers go outside the repeated melodrama framework to address social and political issues in their societies.
Slim plays with film-genre and police thriller to build up his plot, while infusing deep political and hyperlocal segments. For example, the three killings which obviously traumatized the village, and left the families victims with no closure, with no assistance from the national government and its bureaucrats, were traumatizing incidents that have scarred Tunisian society. The first is of a shepherd who was decapitated by the Islamic State extremists. The second is a woman, like thousands, who decided to immigrate to Europe by sea, drowning with her husband in what is now known as “Mediterranean graveyard”. The third is a factory worker who dies in a quarry, and is left there since there are no rescue efforts from the state.
Director: Ala Eddine Slim
Screenplay,editing: Ala Eddine Slim
Cast: Neji Kanaweti, Bilel Slatnia, Majd Mastoura, Sonia Zarg Ayouna
Cinematography: Amine MessadiProducer: Ala Eddine Slim
Co-producer: Julie Viez
Production: Exit Productions
Co-production: Cinenovo
International sales: MAD Solutions
Venue: Locarno Film Festival (Concorso Internazionale)
In Arabic, French
100 minutes
