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Poster for Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets

Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets

2001 · 1h 39m · N/A Drama
Directed by Nabil Ayouch

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Overview

Ali, Kwita, Omar and Boubker are street kids. The daily dose of glue sniffing represents their only escape from reality. Since they left Dib and his gang, they have been living on the portside of Casablanca. They live in constant fear of Dib's revenge. Ali wants to become a sailor - when he was living with his mother, a prostitute, he used to listen to a fairy tale about the sailor who discovered the miracle island with two suns. Instead of finding his island in the dream, Ali and his friends are confronted with Dib's gang. Matters are getting serious.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
73%
Tomatometer
Fresh

Ayouch takes a subject that could be thoroughly depressing ... and -- through a simple story line, dramatic acting and National Geographic-like shots of the city's rough and pristine edges -- creates cinematic magic.

Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle
Fresh

In its own, low-key way, Ali Zaoua is just as stirring [as City of God].

V.A. Musetto, New York Post
Rotten

Less interested in moving a viewer to anger and action than in eliciting a few tears of pity and granting us a warm glow of self-congratulation for having shared for a moment in the anguish of underprivileged others.

Dave Kehr, New York Times
Fresh

An oblique, heartbreaking film.

Mark Holcomb, Village Voice
Fresh

It's the eyes of the children ... that stay with you after Ali Zaoua is over -- as well as the compassion that's evident in every frame.

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

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