VERDICT: The outmoded bleach sellers of Tangier offer a window to a simpler time and a resistance against rampant growth in Hicham Gardaf’s tranquil documentary.
In Praise of Slowness is a film about what we risk losing in the name of accelerating development.
The fate of bleach-pedalling street vendors in Tangier might not seem like the obvious choice for a measured and thought-provoking documentary about global economics. However, in the hands of filmmaker Hicham Gardaf, this largely unassuming profession becomes a symbol of something more significant – the things that we sacrifice on the altar of commercialism and, more hopefully, how their endurance allows us to see minor routes to resistance against the all-consuming tide.
The film initially follows the figure of the vendor as he first traverses the arid landscape and then the edge lands and industrial centres of the city carrying a vast array of empty plastic bottles on his back. He resembles the profile of a balloon seller, surrounded by a cloud of his wares. Gardaf’s camera remains relatively distant, observing this strange sight without comment, but hinting through the choice of shots and locations about the city’s transformation. After this, a more conventional interview takes place in which a seller explains his daily routine, and the role he plays for local businesses.
One of the film’s defining features is the way it addresses sound. The chanting call of the bleach seller becomes a consistent refrain and, in a voiceover later in the film, is cited by Gardaf as being a key element of the audio background of the place, a hole that will be left gaping when the trade dies off. Listening, he says, is a fundamental part of sight – the ears lead the eyes to look. His use of this repeating call evokes its position of nostalgia for Gardaf and creates a direct tether to the past that is in danger of disappearing. For as long as it doesn’t, the inhabitants of Tangier can be reminded of a simpler time.
Director, screenplay, cinematography, editing: Hicham Gardaf
Cast: Khalid Mousmi, Abdellah Ben Messaoud, Fatima Benabbou
Sound design: Hannan Jones
Production companies: Fondazione MAST (Italy)
Venue: Berlinale (Forum Expanded)
In English, Arabic
17 minutes
