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Amal

Amal

Movie · 2023 · 4 people

Amal (released in French as Amal : Un esprit libre) is a Belgian-French co-production, a drama completed in 2023 by the Belgian director Jawad Rhalib. Shot in French and running about 111 minutes, it shows how a conflict that begins in a classroom becomes a test for a whole community. Its world premiere took place on October 12, 2023 at the 50th Ghent Film Festival, and it later drew notice at Belgium's national film awards.

At its centre is Amal, who teaches literature at a high school in Brussels and is played by Lubna Azabal. When she decides to put the writings of the Arabic poet Abu Nuwas on her reading list, she meets resistance from her community and gradually ends up isolated. Beside Azabal the cast includes Fabrizio Rongione, Catherine Salée, Kenza Benboutcha, Ethelle Gonzalez Lardued, Johan Heldenbergh, Babetida Sadjo and Mehdy Khachachi. The film puts the strain between personal conviction and social expectation in the foreground.

Rhalib wrote the script with David Lambert and Chloé Léonil. Critics praised the writing and the performances, and at the 14th Magritte Awards the film was nominated in nine categories, among them Best Film and Best Director for Rhalib. Azabal took the Best Actress prize at that ceremony.

DirectorJawad Rhalib

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Cast

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Lubna Azabal Lubna Azabal Actor · 53 years old Amal Fabrizio Rongione Catherine Salée Johan Heldenbergh Johan Heldenbergh Actor · 59 years old Luc

Also in the cast: Kenza Benboutcha, Ethelle Gonzalez Lardued, Babetida Sadjo, Mehdy Khachachi

Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Amal's script grows a small classroom conflict step by step into a test for a whole community, and that gradual escalation is the right structure for avoiding the preachy tone a film with a thesis can easily fall into. The joint writing by Rhalib, David Lambert and Chloé Léonil is what critics singled out for praise. With an increasingly isolated teacher at its centre, the story rests largely on one performer's shoulders; Lubna Azabal winning Best Actress at the Magritte Awards for the role shows that gamble paid off. In my view the weak spot of such a design is the pull toward caricaturing the other side; the more layered the community's resistance, the stronger the film stands.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Although it is set in a Brussels high school, its real subject reaches beyond the school walls: a teacher's freedom in a European city, community pressure and what education is allowed to include. That a literary choice such as adding Abu Nuwas to the curriculum turns into such strong resistance brings forward the question of whom a cultural heritage belongs to and who gets to define it. Amal's growing isolation suggests that the cost of the tension between personal belief and social expectation is usually paid by the individual. For viewers in Turkey it is hardly a distant story; arguments over what may be taught can flare up in much the same way in many societies.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humour and heart.

Since it is set in a high school, watching it with teenagers may come to mind. But this is not a fun film about school life; it is a serious drama about the pressure a teacher faces from those around her and her growing isolation. It is not for young children. Watched with high-school-age teens, it can open a good conversation about school and freedom. For a light family evening, it will feel heavy.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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