The Man who Sold his Skin
Taken from Arabnews web site
Genre : satire, drama
Written and directed by Kaouther ben Hnia, a Tunisian film director known for her Beast and the
Dogs.The author has chosen a metaphorical expression to catch our attention right from the beginning .
If you look at the title of the film , you ask yourself . how can this be real? How can a man sell his skin? It is really an intricale title.
Oscar Nominee film Is Based on a Real Work of Art by Wim Delvoye. A real-life work of art is the inspiration for Kaouther ben Hnia.
Setting of the movie :
Film starts in Syria ( Rakka ) in 2011 then in Belgium . Social and political context : Syria witnessed a civil war in 2011 as it is known in other arab countries like Tunisia as “Arab Spring”.
The war was between the Syrian arab republic led by Bashar al.Assad and foreign alies. A non-religious secular government against armed allies who want to impose religious principals. Such context caused poverty .unemployment etc… this pushes many Syrians to flee the country to many foreign countries .
The actions of the film turn around a social and political turmoil and unrest which influence negatively the flow of events.
 |
| taken from Arabnews website |
Main characters:
Sam Ali , a Syrian guy from Syria , Racca . Sam becomes bewildered and unemployed because of war , without a job or any future , he has no chance to marry his rich beloved , Abir Kratib as a way out to escape poverty , Sam decides to flee to Belguim and sell his back to an artist , Jefferey Godefroi.
Abir Khatib , a Syrian young girl whose first appereance in film is in a train with Sam Ali in a romantic scene in which he asks her for marriage in front of the passengers.
Themes
Freedom is the most important point on which the movie director wants to put the stress.As we
already mentioned.Syria was witressing a civl war during that peried .Syrians were deprived of their
freedom.Freedom of expression and even to decide of their destiny. Talking about the lack of freedom in thetrain , Ali finds himself arrested just becaux he says : “Laidies and gentlemen .It’s a revolution .We want freedom . So , let’s be free. I love this girl and I want to marry her. Who wants to marry us?”
The couple finds difficulty to get united and to decide about their future . Abir is not free to choose the man she loves . She is compelled to marry another man who belongs to the same social class. To be short , the movie tackles two bands doracles, political oppression and social one.
Art :
With this theme ,we return to our title .To escape poverty , Ali accepts the deal the Jefferey ,the
artist and authorized him legally to make his back a canvas, a worle of art which the artist point and
his lack to public in a museum . At the first glance, we think that art saves Ali from poverty.Yet, throughaut the film we realise that it is not the case . When he is in Syria , Ali thinks that art will try to let him recover his humanity and freedom. In Belguim , he realises that he sells his back to get the visa and that he buys his freedom to find himself chained again . As , he has no control over his body .
Throughaut a shooting session , he realises that they are the ones to tell him what to do and how to
use his body. In the museum , he doesn’t have even the right to take pictures with visitors . He has just to stay a status . He is even sold in an auction for 5 million euro. Here, we can say that the contempary art is not a blessing yet a curse. So , the film is a cruel satire of the contemporary Art.
Human trafficking
Another topic unveiled in the film is human trafficking . The film blurs the line between human rights
and trafficking. Ali is exploited by making him sell his skin for 5 million euro . So, here we are no
longer talking about artistic work but about cruel exploitation . At the end of the film , we see the skin donated by the police to the national museum. Jefferey says :” I have to die so that I can finally live.To be part of the system is to be ignored by it.”
Visa system :
The film criticizes such system throughout his characters. Jefferey is one of these who literally denounces visa system and considers it a segregationist aspect of ruling systems. Certain people are considered as nongrata. The artist describes the era in which we live as a dark one. But the point is if ever they remove visa how can they manage the flow of immigration . According to Jefferrey , immigrants are devaluated less than goods . He says that the circulation of commodities around the world is easier that peeple
Comments
Post a Comment