Nezha Rahil Movies
- 2006
A stone-faced assassin falls for a tough traffic cop in director Faouzi Bensaidi's inventive look at life in contemporary Casablanca. By day Kenza (Nezha Rahil) earns her keep by maintaining order on the streets, and by night she makes a few extra dollars by renting out her cell phone to neighbors who can't afford a mobile of their own. Kenza's best friend Souad (Fatima Attif) is a part-time prostitute whose best client is a lovelorn hit-man named Kamel (director Bensaidi) who receives his assignments via the internet. When his jobs are finished, Kamel calls Kenza's cell phone as a means of arranging a date with Souad, but he and Kenza have formed a warm bond over the course of their calls, and he soon finds himself falling for the self-assured cop. The stage is eventually set for tragedy when a tech-savvy hacker named Hicham (El Mehdi Elaaroubi) stumbles across Kamel's hit list and decides to make the trip to Rabat and see the trigger man's handiwork in person. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Faouzi Bensaidi, Nezha Rahil, (more)
- 2003
It's Ramadan in 1981 and Mehdi (Fouad Labied) and his mother, Amina (Nezha Rahil), have just moved to a small town in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco to live with his paternal grandfather, Ahmed (Mohammed Majd). Mehdi thinks his father is away in France, as Amina has told him, but his father is actually in prison for his involvement in a labor strike. Mehdi has a hard time making friends, but quickly becomes the teacher's (Mohamed Choubi) pet. The teacher assigns Mehdi to look after his chair, which Mehdi safeguards by carrying it around with him all day. This doesn't win him many friends among the other kids, and things only get worse when the teacher asks Mehdi to help him discipline the other students. Mehdi's mother works for the Caid, and takes Mehdi along. There, he hangs out with the Caid's rebellious teenage daughter, Malika (Meryem Massaia), who smokes cigarettes and dresses in skimpy Western outfits to the dismay of many around her. She also participates in student protests and her behavior eventually leads her into trouble. Amina and Ahmed struggle to make ends meet, while hoping for Mehdi's father to be released from prison. Meanwhile, both the teacher and Abdelhadi (Abdellah Chicha), who works for the television station, are in love with Mehdi's neighbor, Saadia (Hajar Masdouki). When a new Caid (Abdelati Lambarki) arrives in town and sets his sights on her, havoc ensues. A Thousand Months marks the feature debut of writer/director Faouzi Bensaïdi. The film was shown at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Prix Le Premier Regard and the Prix de la jeunesse. It was also selected for the 2003 New York Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fouad Labied, Nezha Rahil, (more)
- 1999
The nomadic life of Moroccan carnival performers forms the basis of this debut from director Daoud Aoulad-Syad. Rabi (Abdellah Didane), a female impersonator who dances with traveling fairs, teams up with Kacem (Hassen Essaklli), who hires him to ballyhoo his gambling concession. While Rabi's lack of romantic interest in women befuddles Kacem's son (Med Bastaoui), he does strike up a friendship with a schoolteacher (Nezha Rahile), who in her way is as much of a misfit as Rabi. Deliberately paced, Adieu Forain is dominated by the stark beauty of life at the side of the Moroccan highway. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Abdellah Didane, Med Bastaoui, (more)
- 1996
This off-beat Moroccan drama is set in Tangiers and follows the desperate attempts of Mohammed to leave Morocco and move to France just so he can fulfill his life-long dream of seeing a horse race. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
