Adieu, Forain!

An old van travels from town to town in the draught-stricken south of Morocco. The owner of the van is Kacem, an ageing and infirm fairground operator who is trying to make ends meet with a wheel of fortune. He has one employee: Rabii (‘Spring’), a gentle young transvestite dancer. The third person in the van is Kacem’s son, Larbi. He has spent several years in Belgium. He tells Rabii that he was a boxer, but in reality he spent three years in jail. Father and son are separated by a detachment bordering on hatred. Rabii does not understand where it comes from, but can feel their enormous loneliness. The three of them trek around, but their work gets increasingly fraught, especially when the authorities refuse them licences.The stylish feature début by Aoulad Syad is brilliantly acted and the rhythm and photography are stunning. It is a bitter½sweet homage to the last itinerant fairground showmen (forains) in Morocco: musicians, story-tellers, animal tamers, jugglers. With the drying land, this great tradition is also doomed. But there is always hope, even for the most marginal of them, Rabii. Just as the friendship they find in one of the beautiful old towns is an expression of hope.