A scene from ‘Red Path’ Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Every Blue Moon is a piece of art that throughout its run, without direct dramatization, does not comprehensively maintain the concern of living in an inhumane world. Arab filmmaker Lotfi Achour red path – which competed in the International Competition section of the 55th International Film Festival of India – this bone-chilling thriller unfolds in mere minutes as we are introduced to the arid Tunisian plains, where only enemies can provide stability. Gets shelter.

We see a teenage shepherd, Nizar Nouri (Yassin Samouni), who leads his 13-year-old cousin, Achraf (Ali Haleli, in a performance that conveys little thought), and their goats on the rocky slopes beyond the Mejri Path. Takes it away. Mount Magila, Tunisia – borderline in the conflict between the government and jihadists. Nizar wants to show Achraf a paradise area that is untouched in these mountains. They lie naked on hot rocks, splash around in pools of water in rocky depressions, and talk about a time when the sea would have covered the mountains.

A scene from ‘Red Path’ Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Doom strikes the boys like a thunderbolt. Achraf, brutally beaten and confused, wakes up beside Nizar’s severed head. “Show this to his mother and maybe then you all will learn not to come here,” the jihadists told him, disappearing as quickly as they had appeared. Paralyzed by shock, Achraf picks up Nizar’s head without thinking and goes back to his village. Then it was immediately discovered that a landmine had killed his goats, except for one kid named Tatous.

With tattoos, resting inside his jacket, and a duffel bag that grows drenched in blood with each passing minute, Achraf wanders around, wishing he could find someone to break the news to Nizar’s mother, Mbarka. Had to become. In an interesting twist, before breaking the news to Mbarka, Akraf first chooses to confide in a teenage schoolgirl named Rahma (Waided Débie; the film’s only light whisperer), Nizar’s romantic interest. As Achraf grapples with guilt, grief and psychological fallout that no other soul should have to go through, social and emotional obstacles force him back down the same well-worn path he wishes he had never taken ; He has to accompany his relatives as they are going back to bring back Nizar’s body.

red path What then becomes a story of the search for meaning and resolution, if there is one, in Achraf’s brutal new reality. Apart from all this, the film is also a painful lament on the childhood stolen in places affected by war and conflict; Whether it’s how the dire economy forces you to drop out of school and work; Or how you are forced to choose between jihadists and pro-government entities; Or how your loved one may be decapitated, and you are left to fend for yourself and move on.

In his feature directorial debut, a co-production between Tunisia, France, Belgium, Poland, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Lotfi Achour avoids using grand strokes to convey his grand statements. Take for example how the phone call between a minister and Nazir’s brother Munir is never highlighted dramatically – something you might expect in such situations – but is used only to bring back Nazir’s body. This is done to express the helplessness of the family and the indifference of the authorities. Towards citizens.

Achour infuses his unambiguous scripting with some magical realism, taking us through Achraf’s PTSD-induced hallucinations. Nazir’s spirit becomes a shadow that accompanies Achraf on his journey, and Polish cinematographer Wojciech Staron pounces on these opportunities to create some surreal imagery; In one such example, we see Achraf standing in front of an empty fridge inside Nazir’s house, where the head was being kept.

Then there are the aesthetic choices Starone made within the tangible realm of this story. The nights are colored with the blue of the moon, or warm colors from bonfires or light bulbs. The blue sky over Tunisia’s barren landscapes helps balance the mood of Achour. The most memorable visual choice, however, is how the director and cinematographer chose to fill the frame with close-ups of Achraf as we try to understand everything going on behind those helpless eyes. Some rare shots initially appear gimmicky, such as the shot of blood dripping from a duffel bag and onto the camera; In an otherwise honest film, they barely register as an inconvenience.

red path Based on the beheading of Mabrouk Soltani in November 2015. In our horrific reality, hope is rare for boys like Achraf (Mabruk’s older brother Khalifa Soltani was later kidnapped and killed in 2017). Achour, however, shows through a solid writing choice that maybe there is hope for children like Achraf. May mother’s love prevail over all hatred.

Red Path was screened at the ongoing 55th International Film Festival of India