- 2 years ago
- Image courtesy of "You Resemble Me" Boasting an impressive list of producers––including Spike Lee, Riz Ahmed, Alma Har’el, and Spike Jonze––Dina Amer’s gripping and deeply affecting directorial debut You Resemble Me dramatizes the sad and embattled life of Hasna Ait Boulahcen, a young woman who was falsely depicted as Europe’s first female suicide bomber after the 2015 Paris bombings. The first part of the film portrays Hasna and her younger sister Mariam (played with realistic lack of inhibition by real-life sisters Lorenza and Ilonna Grimaudo) as they navigate life in in the suburbs of Paris. Moroccan immigrants, they live in a multi-racial housing complex with their overwhelmed, abusive mother and two other siblings. Despite life’s challenges and the neighborhood’s roughness, the closely bonded Hasna and Mariam manage to have fun playing and running through the streets. With its naturalistic action, dialogue and characters, the film is instantly compelling. Amer presents her story in a straightforward yet often poetic way; it's easy to get drawn into the lives of these scrappy sisters. Dina Amer (photo: Kevin Scanlon) During an impromptu birthday celebration for Mariam, their mother attempts to collect her daughter's gifts to sell for cash. Hasna rebels, running away with Mariam in tow. They take the train into the city, where they sleep in a park in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower and snatch food from street vendors. Eventually the girls are apprehended (not for[...]
