“Casablanca Beats” Is on the Beat

Release Date：Sep/16/2022

Genre：Drama/Music

Director：Nabil Ayouch

Cast：Anas Basbousi、Ismail Adouab

Viola's Rating：7.3

When it comes to Morocco, football is usually what comes to people’s minds first as it ranks number two in Africa, only next to Senegal. Although hip-hop and feature films are not your first thoughts of Morocco, you still shouldn’t miss the award-winning Franco-Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch’s latest film Casablanca Beats for it was selected not only as the Moroccan entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards, but also to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.

Adapted from the leading actor, Anas Basbousi’s experience, this musical drama is depicted as a “Dead Poet Society meets Step Up series” story with a West Side Story vibe, hip-hop version. Casablanca Beats walks between the border of documentary and drama since it cast first-time actors and their characters go as their real names. The plot is mainly about how Anas, a former rapper, is employed in a cultural center in Sidi Moumen, a northeastern suburb of Casablanca. As the students encouraged by their new teacher through hip-hop culture, they will try to free themselves from the weight of traditions to express themselves and live their passion.

Basbousi, known professionally as Bawss, is a Moroccan actor and rapper himself, who also wrote the lyrics for Casablanca Beats. He’s the founder of Positive School of Hip Hop, and even though the flick is semi-documentary and semi-improvised, you can tell from Basbousi’s attitude and passion that his and all the students’ sweats and tears in the motion picture are nothing fake.

Casablanca Beats discusses the definition of “art.” Koran doesn’t state that Muslims can’t listen to music, but to conservative residents in Sidi Moumen, or some other places in Morocco, hip-hop and rap are not art, not even counted as music. However, for Anas, if it serves the purpose of communication and creates resonance, it indeed is art, and this is exactly what the movie wants to tell the audience.

There are many scenes in Casablanca Beats that would remind moviegoers of the Oscar winning picture Dead Poets Society as it demonstrates the importance of education and inspiring teachers. The audience gets to see honest and open ardent conversations and deep discussions taken place in Anas’ classroom.

Aside from rap, other elements of hip-hop culture are also included in Casablanca Beats, such as beatbox, dance and graffiti. Through the presentation of energetic and young actors, the audience gets to see more about the development of hip-hop culture in Morocco, and yes, presentation does matter.

Besides the abovementioned advantages, Casablanca Beats received several accolades because of the social issues it covered, including gender, life goals, moralities, politics, religions, etc., and it’s no doubt on the beat.

Picture Credit: IMDB, @moives