Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Executscan Expected more

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

bobt145 The lyricism of the streets, this is a sad film about a Morrocan boy, his backstory, his death and his friends who elevate his life to meaningful.The comparisons to "Lord of the Flies" are natural.The kids are cruel, they follow a leader quickly, they don't understand some things an adult would immediately grasp, such as Ali's death.Some of my favorite scenes include Kwita's romantic swoon over an older girl whose pocket he has picked, the tough Mr. Winston, who defends his cardboard home and storefront and the revelation that Dib, a deaf boy and leader of the rabble of kids, did care, was saddened by Ali's death and had planned a proper burial on his own.Ali's relationship with his mother is told through a children's story, of two suns, an island, and a sailor at sea. It's magical, weaving at different times through illustration and back to life.In a touching scene, we find that these are Ali's own childhood memories of a taped story, not his imagination. And we find that his mother has kept his room as he left it.Why didn't she search for him? It doesn't seem possible that Ali's backstory is as true as the rest of the boys believe.And we are left to believe what we want to. It's very likely we believe in the streets, the poverty, the cruelty, even if we believe that Ali may have had a choice and may have joined the streets from shame, not fear nor necessity.This is a filmmovement title. Find it and see it.

kjm711 This film was excellent. I was amazed at the honest portrayal of how these poor children survive alone & uncared for, nobody seemed to care about their terrible situation, and I was saddened by the abuse and cruelty contained in the film both to the children and animals. I have been to Morocco, but did not see any street children & would never have guessed that there was such a problem if not for this film. I will certainly try to keep a track of future films made by this brave individual if this film is anything to go by as he is an honest film maker who does not think viewers need to be protected from the less prettier issues that are in this world. In fact I would like to say thank you to him for making such an interesting film in the first place.

lecourrierdemarco I really liked Ali Zaoua and I would recommend it to anybody. Great acting performance from such young kids. It's really a must see. It's well directed and the photography is beautiful. An incredible vision about street kids living in the ruins of Casablanca and a story about friendship and a good lesson about life. Said Thagmaoui is very good who personify Dib, a street Thug who's bullying a big bunch of poor kids who are dealing with drugs problems and beg for money all day long. I voted a 10 for this movie, but if I could've vote 11, I would've done it for sure. I even let go a couple of tears at the end. I watched it with subtitles, I don't know if a dubbed version exists, but, trust me, you must see this movie...

HenryMiller01 I recently saw this film at the Santa Barbara international film festival. I glanced over the brief summary, and the fact that it came from Morocco intrigued me. However, it started an hour after a movie I really wanted to see started. The movie I went to wasn't that great and I ended up sneaking out of that one and into Ali Zaoua. I'm now glad I did so because what I saw was one of the most brutally realistic and terrifying, yet beautiful and poetic, inspiring and redemptive movies I've ever seen.This movie is not for the faint of heart. Since it takes place in the poverty of a third world country, in places where the homeless in America seem spoiled in comparison, this movie portrays the harsh realities these kids endure everyday to survive, whether from the world around them or each other, no matter what the cost. The actors seem casted right off the streets, bearing scars and other physical traces of the nightmares they live through. The fact that the characters are only small children forced to live lives that even an adult would have a difficult time with makes this movie even more powerful.At times this movie seemed like a version of Lord of the Flies, but I can't go into that any more without potentially spoiling the movie (or Lord of the Flies for those who haven't seen the movie or read the book). All I will say, however, is that the movie doesn't center around what seems to be aspects from Lord of the Flies and has much more good points about it than bad ones, that the movie carries much further than these aspects.I can't say enough about this movie. I've only seen it one time and now I can't seem to find it on video or DVD. I can only hope that it comes out on DVD and in widescreen format.