Olfa Hamrauni does not know much about his granddaughter; Not his favorite toy nor food – is it a pasta that the child’s mother loves, or anything else?
Tunisian grandmother also does not allow her mind to go there. “I do not want to know. What but for more heartache? ” He said.
For now, she only fights for 8 -year -old Fatma. The child spent his whole life with his mother and aunt – the eldest daughters of us – detained in Libya, where women were injured after leaving home as teenagers and joining the extremists of the Islamic State Group.
The real -life story of Hamrauni and his children is focused on the “four daughters”, nominally named an Academy Award for the Best Documentary Feature Film. On camera, there are several layers for Cather Ben Hania’s film: it is about the radicalization of two teenage girls; An intimate picture of a chaotic, and often relaxed, family life; And reflection on generational trauma, patriarchy, maternity and adolescence.
Off camera, this is more than just one family story.
Names change, details are different, but the nightmare is familiar to some other people in Tunisia, where many people at one point leave to join terrorist groups including Islamic State in abroad. Terrorists in Tunisia have also hit the target. Today, families like Hamrauni are alive of that complex heritage, unresolved issues and years of difficult questions.
“This is an open wound in my country,” actor Hend Sabari said, which appears in some scenes in the film as Hamrauni. “We are not going to recover until we talk about it.”
Hamrauni hopes that the film’s high profile promoted his advocacy to redeeming his daughters from Libya, where he was sentenced to jail, and tested in his country. In Tunisia, like other countries, some people are suspicious and frightened due to security reasons.
Humrauni wants Fatama to be free from the boundaries of its existence. “What is his fault?” He has not chosen his father or mother. ,
Ben Hania, who wrote and directed the film, resonated the demands. “We are working hard to pursue the Tunisian government,” he said. “A country is responsible for its citizens.”
The film uses with the format. Hamrauni and her youngest daughters, Iya and Tasir, appear as themselves. Apart from Sabari, actor plays the role of Ghoffren and Rahma, who leaves daughters, as Ben Hania re -organizes the family’s past in search of clues for her fanaticism. (Film provides theory, but has no concrete objective, especially with real Ghofren and Rahma in Libya.) In some scenes, actor resumes major moments with family members; In others, they question, challenge or reflect. Ben Hania said that his role as a filmmaker is to understand and analyze, not the judge.
In telling the film and family, daughters were very low in a house. Dad was largely absent and drank too much; The mother made her over and was hard.
In the film, Hamrauni is cured on preserving the sexual purity of his daughters for marriage. He is hurried to insult and instigate allegations and to punish the perceived or real violations – a lacked leg, a diary entry about a first kiss – with severe beating.
There was some rebellion, a gothic phase, a man with a motorcycle. Then more than a decade ago, the changes that Tunisia made after the pro-democracy movement brought another change in the form of different streams, including hard-liners and extremists, jocids for effects. A sermon pop up in the neighborhood of the Tent family.
Ghofren and Rahma, whose mother says that only with basic religious knowledge, were introduced for interpretations. In their fanaticism and deepened-Rahma is said to have been self-fledged for such things to be shocked or delaying prayer, and told about stoning a woman who had sex outside the wedding.
When the Ghofrain left about a decade ago, Hamrauni helped to stop Rahma from the following with the help of the police. She accuses the police of doing a little.
The family fell. Hamrauni hurt the late daughters and was worried about the remaining people. One, at that time a child accepted Rahma and absorbed the beliefs of his sisters. Second, Iiya was unwelling.
Little girls were placed in a government facility, the credit they help in the reconstruction of their life. But outside, the family says, life was difficult and neighbors and relatives removed them.
Mohammad Ecbel Ben Rizb, the RazQ Association of Tunisian people, told some people trapped abroad that those who were found in similar circumstances, which were left to family members, who were sometimes to protect those who were consequently. Other people fight for the repatriation of loved ones. Nothing knows whether their relatives are dead or alive.
He said that his organization does not protect Tunisian people with blood on his own hands, but advocates rehabilitation of others and in particular, for the rescue and renewal of children born by the parents or there. But he also says that Tunisia may lack sufficient capabilities and argues that officials are often seen pulling their legs.
He and other activists are particularly concerned about the rights and future of children. Inactivity, they warn, can prove dangerous.
“The normal place for children is … the expanded family, school,” said Mustafa Abdelkebir, head of the Tunisian observatory for human rights. “After spending long periods in jails and camps … they will ange the society, tick bombs.”
Abdelkebir asked Tunisian authorities to find solutions and in particular, to bring children home from abroad, but said the repatriation issue is often placed in numerous of diplomatic, political, financial, legal or logical challenges.
Nevertheless, some Tunisian women cleaned by Libya’s courts were returned to Tunisia, where they were detained according to Abdelkebir. He said that many children have also been returned – including orphans. He said that children have been given to relatives or kept in government social care facilities. Tunisian government officials did not provide a comment, or on a large repatriation issue in time for answers and publications on the sisters’ case.
One of the most famous stars in the Arabia world, Sabari said that his heart breaks for Fatma-but he finds it difficult to sympathize with Ghofren and Rahma. She also emphasizes the importance of accountability for Tunisian people who have joined such groups.
During the filming, Hamrauni saw a mirror for his life.
Hamrauni, who herself had a difficult childhood, said that both of them recognize where she went wrong as a mother, and that her mistakes do not accept the decisions of her daughters. But she also blames the political atmosphere and government policies at a young age at a young age and says that both have now regretted their choice.
When asked about Fatama, our voice becomes soft. With tears well before they become lightened her eyes.
That Freets: How will Fetma learn etiquette? Who will teach him about his country? He must be older to love Tunisia, to know how to treat others?
If Fatama ever lives with him, no one else will be killed, Hamrauni said, who has remarried and now lives outside Tunisia. “I will teach him right from wrong but let him make him his choice.”
But nothing is certain. She feels for Fatma, how little she knows about the world, how the world can treat her.
“Her past is tarnished,” said Hamrauni. “Only God knows what he is waiting for.”