Rabat – Rather than focusing on the issue of prostitution and sexual tourism that the movie “Much Loved (Zine li Fik)” raises, many Moroccans have condemned the movie based solely on select scenes shared on social media platforms.
Many even call for the boycotting of the movie and threaten legal action against its director without having watched the movie or having considered its underlying implications.
On social media platforms and the radio, the film’s director, Nabil Ayouch, and the main actress, Loubna Abidar, have been accused of negatively impacting the Moroccan society and its values and sending a bad image about Moroccan women world widely.
Avoiding the stark realities of this taboo subject won’t help and stimulate the national debate about prostitution, sexual tourism, and pedophilia in Morocco, nor will it allow for adequate solutions and interventions to the above issues. Many people will certainly argue that prostitution and its consequences exist everywhere in the world and that the movie didn’t bring any adequate solutions.
However, I personally believe that the film director and actresses should be applauded for their boldness to reveal the reality of this underworld trade and spark the debate knowing that the subject has previously been ignored or even denied. Moreover, many people state that the director could have expressed his ideas and delivered his intended messages in a less-explicit manner.
Yet, the most shocking scenes depict a reality that can easily be understood by a broad audience of varied backgrounds. The role of cinema is not only to present beautiful artistic scenes depicting positive aspects of Moroccan society. However, the role of cinema is also to reveal the pure, and sometimes gritty, reality of issues as experienced in society in order to play a socially-responsible role that expresses the sometimes hard but often beautiful realities of life in Morocco.
I strongly support Nabil Ayouch because he is holding a mirror up to Moroccan society and realizes that the current situation in the kingdom with prostitution threatens our current and future generations. The director played a proactive role by showing the sad reality of a segment of Moroccan society who are suffering and neglected.
“Much Loved (Zine li Fik)”is a movie that shows the reality of the lives of many Moroccan women without compromising the image or values of that same society. Rather, it stimulates debate and reacts against the hypocrisy of Moroccan society in its passivity to deal with these issues. Those who are worried about being bombarded by the images of the film need not fret: we still have free choice in the kingdom, and it is within all our right not to go and watch the film if one so chooses.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Morocco World News’ editorial policy
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