Leaving Tangier

I am delighted to receive this unrated and unedited version of this controversial film. It has always been a puzzle to me, why sensorship of the visual media, has been mainly directed towards sex and nudity, whereas any kind of violence, murder and horror, pass through without anyone raising an eyebrow. Pasolini's films for instance, have only just recently been distributed in their unrated versions. The original version of Ken Park is in Russian, and it is virtually impossible to get an unsensored version of the French Film: Romance.

"Leaving Tangier" is Moroccan author Tahar Ben Jelloun's portraits of immigrants and would-be immigrants, who reluctantly leave or are forced to leave their homes and families for what is often the false promise of a new and more rewarding life in a different country and culture. These unlooked-for departures are necessary because Morocco (and many other countries) cannot provide them with any reasonable opportunity for a decent future, and these are people who are unwilling to accept that fate so early in life. Each of the characters in this book--Azel, the handsome and well-educated young man who moves to Barcelona to become the companion of a wealthy gay Spaniard; Kenza, Azel's sister who leaves Morocco in pursuit of the perfect romance that might provide equality and security; Malika, the teenage girl who dreams of personal independence but is forced to leave school to work in a frigid canning plant; Mohammed Larbi, who because he attempts to help a young woman matched for marriage with an old man, disappears into a jihadist training camp in Pakistan; and Nazim, the Turk, who is exiled to Spain by gamblers to whom he owes more money than he can repay and ruins his own life, that of his Turkish family and ultimately, of Kenza, who believes him to embody her dream of the perfect mate--face enormous odds against success, but they all have an unusual degree of personal courage that pushes them to attempt a leap into a better life. These stories are heartbreakingly sad and probably accurately reflect the experiences of thousands of modern immigrants who struggle to build new lives in countries where they are not really welcomed; where their cultural background, physical looks and limited education keep most of them outside the new culture and at a permanent disadvantage economically and socially. Even sadder, they are often completely disconnected from their home cultures and support systems. Marginal success at assimilation is generally the most they can aspire to. Melancholy and alienation dominate their feelings. Author Ben Jelloun is a wonderful story-teller who does justice to the stories of his characters. This is an important contribution to understanding the plight of millions of today's immigrants and displaced people. Ben Jelloun's prose is well-served by translator Linda Coverdale.