SLIFF 2014 Review – TRAITORS

Review by Dana Jung

TRAITORS screens Friday November 14th at 2pm and Thursday November 20th at 12:15pm as part of the St. Louis International Film Festival. Both screenings are at the Plaza Frontenac Theater. For ticket information for the screening on the 14th, go HERE. For ticket information for the screening on the 20th, go HERE.

When asked why she doesn’t have a boyfriend, Malika replies, “It’s not my priority.” For Malika, the central character in the new film TRAITORS, the main focus in her life is her music. We are introduced to Malika’s passion for rock and roll in the movie’s introductory scene, as she practices with her all-female band. “I’m so bored!” she half sings, half screams into the microphone in a fierce expression of punk angst. But boredom is the least of Malika’s problems, because Malika is a young Moroccan woman trying to break the mold of life in Tangier.

Writer and director Sean Gullette has accomplished a neat hat-trick in TRAITORS. In a tightly succinct 82 minutes, Gullette paints the memorable character portrait of a smart and perceptive young woman at a turning point in her life. There are a multitude of obstacles standing in the way of Malika’s dream of recording a demo for a record producer. Although she has an adoring younger sister, her family life is strained; her mother is running out of money and may lose her home, while her father berates her for wearing pants and not following traditional ways. She also deals with the racism of the French toward the native Moroccans, and the sexism of various other males she encounters. Desperate for the cash she needs to record the demo, and taking advantage of a chance encounter with a hash dealer, Malika takes the risky job of driving a drug-laden car on a three-hour trip out of the mountains back to Tangier through various police checkpoints.

It is during this road trip, which takes up the film’s entire second half, that Gullette’s story becomes even more compelling, as we are introduced to another young woman, Amal, who is trapped in a different way by her life with the drug dealers. At first gruff and surly toward Malika, Amal represents Malika’s worst fear of what she might become. Eventually, the women find they have more in common than not, and the suspense of the trip becomes even more nerve-wracking as we now have both women to root for. It is ultimately up to Malika to prevail in a duel of wits where the stakes are life or death.

As Malika, Chaimae Ben Acha is at once spitefully petulant and wonderfully appealing. Sporting a definite Joan Jett vibe, and an intelligent and expressive face, Ben Acha gives a terrific performance. Gullette’s direction, utilizing docu-style hand-held camera for most of the film, is tense and gritty, and enhanced by the edgy musical score of Nathan Larson.

As TRAITORS progresses, we realize that the title is not only the name of Malika’s band, but also her chosen path. For, what is the definition of a traitor? It is someone who renounces the principles of the social and political majority to become something else. And sometimes, that something else is a gifted and unique voice that would otherwise be stifled in a sea of conformity.