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Times are weird here in this cold wet stubborn megalomaniac dump we call the Netherlands. I am not going to bore you with the recent developments in this country, but when I heard about Shouf Shouf Habibi! playing at the local sneak preview I had mixed feelings about seeing it. Dutch movies are normally not that much of an experience to watch: bad lip-synched dialogues, bad camerawork and bad directing. And nine out of ten Dutch movies are either about World War II or sex. Dutch cinema is doing well though these days despite the lack of government support. And I must admit I have seen some pretty good Dutch movies recently.
Shouf Shouf Habibi! is a dangerous kind of movie in the same vein as Bend It Like Beckham and the Swedish multicultural comedy Jalla! Jalla! Especially now that the Moroccan community in the Neths are being portrayed in a bad light due to a small group that is causing trouble. But don’t worry: I’ll keep politics out of this review.
A Moroccan family living in the Netherlands is having a hard time because most of the kids within the family are on the wrong track. Leila is supposed to chain herself to an arranged marriage and her brother Ab is trying to find a good decent job but is dragged in and out of crime by his friends. When Leila runs away from home and Ab is making a mess of his new job, things get out of hand.
The problem with this multicultural comedy is both its strength and its weakness: it is trying to give a funny impression of the racial problems within the Netherlands. Personally I was quite offended by a Moroccan voice-over confirming all stereotypes Dutch people have of Moroccans by making jokes about it. To me that is a cheap way of getting the Dutch viewer on your side. The way the story is told is funny but with a serious undertone that struck me as being annoying. The stereotyping is meant to be humorous but is an easy way to score among both Dutchies and Moroccans.
Asides from the wrong tone of Shouf Shouf the storylines aren’t really finished or ended properly. There is still a story to be told instead of an eager attempt to be moralistic. This is something director Albert ter Heerdt is guilty of on a very frequent basis. When you regard the jokes individually most of them are kinda funny and so are some dialogues. I am not trying to be politically correct, but Shouf Shouf Habibi! is trying to make a political statement and trying to be a lighthearted comedy at the same time. And that is something that is merely impossible. Or at least in this movie these two components are opposites. (Oh and a very, very bad element in the casting is the fact that Leila is sorta having a Rotterdam accent and her brother, Ab, has an Amsterdam accent’ Hullo!)
Directed by: Albert ter Heerdt
Starring: Mimoun Oa’ssa, Touriya Haoud, Najib Amhali and Mohammed Chaara
‘Shouf Shouf Habibi!’ opens January 29 in the Netherlands
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Arjan Welles (213 posts)Arjan Welles - law graduate. I work at a bank, I work as a film critic for Dutch and English media. My favorite directors are David Lynch, David Fincher, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino. I love arthouse over blockbusters.
11 Comments
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Hmm, I’m still kinda eager to see this one.
Do I read you correctly that making a statement en being light-hearthed at the same time is impossible, according to you? Or does it just not work in this movie?
I’ll get back on this when I see the movie.
Comment by Paco — Thu January 22, 2004 @ 23:49in this movie the kind of statement the director wants to make doesn’t coincide well with the sometimes lighthearted jokes of teh movie… the story is not that lighthearted, the jokes and the way events are shown are at times…
Comment by arjan — Fri January 23, 2004 @ 11:13“..Shouf Shouf Habibi! is trying to make a political statement and trying to be a lighthearted comedy at the same time.”
I thought you said: “But don’t worry: I’ll keep politics out of this review.”
I totally disagree with your opinion about the movie. You must not forget it IS a comedy, and as you know, a comedy is just like a caricature. Only the ‘funny’ thing that attract attention are highlighted.
Keep that in mind, while seeing this film. And forget politics!!!
Greetz, Ab
Comment by Ab — Sat January 31, 2004 @ 20:38Eh … he kept it out of the review. He only commented on it afterwards
… I’ll refrain from any further comment for now. I haven’t seen the film yet.
Comment by reisneus — Sun February 1, 2004 @ 21:35Have seen it now. I completely disagree with your review and I fail to see a solid stance in it on the movie.
I do see however that you really struggled (as a resident Dutch viewer) with the portrayal of the characters, which you call stereotypes. Why are they stereotypes to you? Does the fact that you might know some Moroccans that study or have a steady job make these stereotypes any less true? No my friend, it doesn’t. Take it from me that these stereotypes -however exaggerated as stereotypes tend to be- are very lifelike. That is why you see practically the whole gamut of what we call ‘allochtonen’ (immigrants) represented in one family. This depiction which you call mere stereotyping is accurate for the biggest part.
Disappointed then? Does it make the movie less entertaining, or does the tone get too serious for you? This is primiarily a comedy but one which purposely provokes to discuss and to re-evaluate.
I don’t mean to slag you off, but you also mentinned that the serious undertone struck yo as annoying. Why? I thought that the meaning of satire (which mostly uses stereotyping) is to convey a serious message by way of humor; a relieving sort of humor which both ‘sides’ can laugh with. You clearly didn’t get the aim of this movie, which is a pity.
You can critisize the form of the movie and with that I do go along with you for the bigger part. We could also agree on that it didn’t achieve its full satirical effect, but the real meaning of movie stays obscure to you. It left you too puzzled because possibly your stance on this subject isn’t clear. That’s no problem, but you should try to make a solid point in your opinion about this provocative piece of film. You didn’t imo.
Comment by paco — Mon February 2, 2004 @ 2:16Oh it is very clear to me indeed Paco…
What I have trouble with is some of the jokes in the movie were purely meant (or at least to my humble opinon) to get the non-Moroccan-full-of-prejudices people on their hand. Like the ET jokes… I think that is too easy…
I know many Moroccans in all kinds of jobs so that is not the thing that troubles me. What worries me that this is a dangerous movie for the people who are already full of prejudices. Like believing all Moroccans have arranged marriages and it is okay for a Moroccan guy to hit his sister (I am sorry but I have read several reports in news papers but also from my own experience) that some guys started shouting and clapping at that scene…
So what my main worry is: it increases the stereotypes and prejudices and at the same time tries to me completely light-hearted about it. Read the Volkskrant Magazine from 2 weekends ago… It will be so much harder for Moroccan youngsters to fight the prejudices as portrayed in this movie…
Come on there are SO many examples: a guys tries to find an honest job and after 1 day he quits and goes into crime again. A girl runs away from home because she has to agree to an arranged marriage. Girls go to school and take off their cloths (what do you call them in English), the three main Moroccan male characters are all into crime. Only the older brother is a policeman. The parents of Ab hardly speak Dutch at all and hardly leave the house. Do I need to go on about this?
You may disagree with my opions but I refuse to accept I didn’t GET the movie… and I am not just saying this out of pride or stubborness…
Comment by Arjan — Mon February 2, 2004 @ 13:40Arjan, I am sorry but on this subject you’re not knowledgable enough. You do mean well, but the reality is different. You get most of your info from papers and reports, I got mine from life en personal experience. Let’s leave it at that.
If you wish to elaborate on this, start a topic in the group or send me an email (dutch). This is a movie site and we should not lengthyly discuss these kind of topics here.
Comment by Paco — Mon February 2, 2004 @ 14:46I can’t help but disagree with Arjan as well. I saw this yesterday and left the theatre thinking that the humour vs. political message thing worked very well. The basic message seems to be to lighten up a bit concerning the Moroccan community in NL, and the movie was quite funny at times.
Too bad some of the actors couldn’t act though. Winston Gerschtanowitz, Bridget Maasland and Touriya Haoud were particularly bad…
Comment by weefselkweekje — Mon March 1, 2004 @ 8:40I disagree with Arjen also. Of course, this movie is loaded with stereotypes, but you need stereotypes to make a comedy. Bend it like Beckham had lot of stereotypes, but nobody had problems with that. Maybe it has something to do with Dutch people always wanting to be politically correct? I am part Dutch part Antillean, and I don’t have problems with immigrant jokes, even when it is about Antillean.
Besides, the maker of this movie shows that Moroccans can look more humorously against, what Dutch autochthonous people call, ‘failed integration’. When the ‘natives’ see Moroccans, they see problems. That’s why I think it is refreshing that, of all people, a Moroccan film maker ridicules it.
This movie also let see how young Moroccan always have to choose between the traditional values at home and the more progressive values from the Dutch society. They have to come up to different expectations, and struggle with it. Who wouldn’t? I think this movie contributes to the issues Moroccan boys and girls have nowadays. This doesn’t justify the fact that Ab breaks open containers, steals a scooter from a child and hits his sister. I think the viewer has to see this in a broader perspective (and I hope he/she can).
Especially the ending of the movie was sad. In the sixties, a lot of immigrants from Morocco en Turkey, came here to hunt fortune. The worked very hard and always thought: ‘some day, I will go home’. Some day became 20 or 30 years. They didn’t integrate, because they hadn’t to, and therefore they were casted out by the Dutch society. They only ‘profit’ they had from their stay in the Netherlands is that they can afford the biggest grave in their native village in Morocco.
Comment by Pegasus — Fri March 5, 2004 @ 21:09I had an interesting discussion with paco about this. I can see his point as well as Pegasus’s…
I talked to a movie reviewer I know about Shouf this afternoon and we agreed… my opinon is not about being politically correct… I can distinguish facts from fiction and I can laugh about stereotypes. That is not the problem with Shouf. What I have trouble with is -with all do respect- stupid people seeing this movie and BELIEVING this is what Moroccan culture is about and NOT seeing these are sterotypes meant to be funny…
Comment by arjan — Mon March 8, 2004 @ 21:05Well Arjan, you need not personnally worry about what other (stupid) people may think; that shouldn’t affect your own opinion about the movie.
Furthermore, you can ask yourself if these people will go out and see the movie. I think that almost everyone that sees this movie will understand that these are stereotypes, since this movie isn’t exactly the pinnacle of subtlety.
Comment by Paco — Tue March 9, 2004 @ 11:48