This week, I bring to you an early, special edition of Hidden Treasures, one dedicated to three films that came to my attention by way of a fabulous organization known as Film Movement. Some of you may have heard of it, but for those who haven’t, Film Movement (located online at http://www.filmmovement.com) is a DVD-of-the-month club, one that caters to film enthusiasts, and not to the major studios.

Taken from their web site, the following is Film Movement’s Mission Statement:

“Film choices are dictated to us by a smaller and smaller group of major studios, which decide to release films based mostly on the stars in the cast and marketability. Many small but deserving films get squeezed out of theaters by Hollywood blockbusters and face skyrocketing marketing costs that make it daunting — if not impossible — to reach appreciative audiences. We created Film Movement because the system of releasing independent, foreign and documentary films needed to be changed. We believed that the only way to change the system was to reach out to film fans directly. Through our first of its kind DVD club our goal is to make these films more accessible. By supporting Film Movement, you are directly supporting independent and foreign film. We hope that you will join our movement of movie lovers”.

I was fortunate enough to have been a member of Film Movement for the first 3 ½ years of it’s existence. As a member, I received a new DVD every month, each one a film that had been lauded at a variety of festivals, but which never saw the light of day beyond them. Thankfully, both Netflix and Blockbuster now offer the movies of Film Movement as on-line rentals, which gives me a chance to present to you three great titles you may never have heard of, but which you will almost certainly enjoy. I’ve also added a short ‘trailer’ for Film Movement at the bottom, which pretty much sums up what this great organization is all about (Note: Unfortunately, Film Movement subscriptions are currently available only to those residing in the U.S., however a large portion of their catalog is available for on-line rental).

Ali Zaoua (2000)
Through the years, many films have centered on the dreams of children, but Ali Zaoua, a Moroccan film directed by Nabil Ayouch, takes a singularly unique approach to this subject. The children at the center of Ali Zaoua are alone, abandoned by their families, and suffering a sad, poverty-stricken existence on the streets of Casablanca. For them, an active imagination is not so much a luxury as it is a means of survival. Ali Zaoua (Abdelhak Zhayra) is one such child, who dreams of traveling across the sea to live on a tropical island, one where two suns are always in the sky to keep him warm. Unfortunately, fate intervenes. As Ali and his three friends, Kwita (Mounim Kbab), Omar (Mustapha Hansali) and Boubker (Hicham Moussoune), waste away the hours playing at an empty construction site, a gang of kids confronts them. One of these kids throws a rock, striking Ali in the head and knocking him unconscious, leaving Kwita, Omar and Boubkar to care for their wounded companion. As he’s being dragged through the streets on a makeshift stretcher, Ali dies, and his three friends agree that Ali deserves a first-class funeral. Each will do what he can to raise money to give their friend a burial at sea, certainly a fitting burial for a ‘prince’ like Ali. As constructed by director Ayouch, Ali Zaoua is a fascinating cross between drama and documentary. The children who star in this film are not actors, but actual Casablancan street kids, and their performances are nothing short of amazing. Ayouch shows a great compassion for the plight of these children, with a tone that is always observant, and never strained or artificial. These kids, forgotten by their families, suffer through life’s pitfalls on a daily basis, and the only thing that gets them through it all is their dreams, their hopes for a better tomorrow. Ali Zaoua is a film you won’t soon forget; an account of the exuberance of youth played out on a stage decorated with society’s most abhorrent contempt.

Inch’Allah Dimanche (2001)
They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. That is certainly true in most cases. There are times, however, where absence can have the opposite effect, allowing people the opportunity to travel in different directions, meet different people, and lead different lives than they would have had they been together. Inch’allah Dimanche, a heartbreaking film about a woman forced to leave her home and travel to a land that is completely foreign to her, relates one such story. Zouina (Fejria Deliba) is an Algerian wife who travels to France in the company of her three children and her abusive mother-in-law (Rabia Mokeddem) so that she may be reunited with her husband, Ahmed (Zinedine Soualem), who has been working in that country for years. At the outset, Zouina does not adapt well to life in France. She quarrels with her new neighbor, Mrs. Donze (France Darry), a woman who is very protective of her award-winning flower garden. Zouina also has trouble at the grocery store, where she spends much more on groceries than her husband has allotted. Each of these transgressions results in a beating from Ahmed, with Zouina slipping further and further into despair. Ultimately, the years spent apart from one another have played on both man and wife, and neither will experience any real pleasure in being reunited. The time apart has taken its toll, and now they are virtually strangers to one another. Inch’allah Dimanche is graced with many fine performances, but that of Fejria Deliba, who plays Zouina, rises above the rest. In Ms. Deliba’s hands, Zouina is a wonderful realization of a woman trapped in a desperate situation. Through the first half of the film, Zouina is given very little dialogue, yet we can tell exactly what she is feeling by looking into her eyes. These eyes are a true window into her soul, a soul that cries out for acceptance, for understanding, and eventually for freedom.

OT: Our Town (2002)
“Our Town” is a play written by Thornton Wilder. The setting is the small town of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, in the early 20th century. As the Narrator of the play states, nobody spectacular ever came from Grover’s Corners, at least as far as anyone knows. The characters who inhabit this fictitious town lead small-town lives, and have names like Wally, George, Emily and Howie. Compton is a small town in Los Angeles County, California. It is best known for gangsters, drive-by shootings and abject poverty. The people who live in Compton have accepted that hardship and crime will always be a part of their lives. Those who live in Compton have names like Ebony, Jose and Armia. OT: Our Town, a documentary film by Scott Hamilton Kennedy, relates what happened when 2 teachers and 24 students at Dominguez High School brought the world of Grover’s Corners to Compton. With no money, no theater, and only one month and 13 days to prepare, these 26 people plan to put on a production of “Our Town”, the first play at Dominguez High in nearly 20 years. What most impressed me about OT: Our Town was how it so perfectly balanced its many elements, such as humor, drama, tension, anger, and fear, ultimately fitting all of these facets neatly into the theme of the picture, which is that, like Grover’s Corners, Compton is an American town. All of the kids who participated in the play would experience a change in both their attitude and outlook on life, forming within themselves a real sense of community. The events of OT: Our Town remained with me days after viewing the film. It is a stirring, inspirational motion picture, made all the more so by the fact that it is 100% genuine.