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Her courageous approach leaves its mark on students and families
Brussels teacher Amal encourages students' passion for reading and freedom of expression despite the risks. You saw it for yourself at the 2023 Ghent Film Festival (Belgium). To begin with, I must admit that I started off on the wrong foot for at least the first half of the running time. I felt a little disconnected from the story: are they trying to tell us something? It is truly very unfortunate that religious fanaticism and fundamentalism have such a huge influence on so many people that they go out of their way to threaten or even eliminate those who do not believe.
tolerant of other beliefs
My initial problem with this story was that I incorrectly assumed that the filmmakers were trying to inform us that there are people who put the Quran and Sharia above national laws and thus ignore what we consider normal (we call it “civilized”). Now I stand corrected, knowing that they were not preaching. Next, now the positive. What caught my attention was, firstly, the believable cast and even the believable circumstances of the school where a significant part of the story takes place. The same goes for the parents and the surroundings, which could be found in any large city in any country.
It is not just direct threats that matter here
For me, the development was really appealing thanks to several unexpected turns of events that kept the story afloat and kept me interested in the course of the proceedings. Secondly, what also caught my attention were the growing dilemmas for the teachers and the school principal, which became more complicated with each subsequent meeting. The underlying questions become apparent and move the story forward, unfortunately, without an obvious way out. These meetings deeply drew me into what happened, and also showed us how difficult it is to decide on a balanced approach to the issues on the agenda. Thirdly, we also witness the powerful influence of social media.
All of this creates an unmitigated media storm
Also, everyone is talking about you without knowing the real facts, yet they still form opinions that spread like wildfire. It’s easy to like a post even if you don’t completely agree with it, you can do it quickly and without thinking. Moreover, writing negative text is also very easy, enhanced by the anonymity that comes with unverified accounts. Before the internet, we had the churchyard, the butcher’s shop and the pub to exchange gossip, no, we have a much faster means with more coverage and speed. But there is no happy ending, given the circumstances probably Mission Impossible.
It leaves us with no solution, but is there any?
Overall, this is not a documentary that demonstrates that fundamentalists are becoming a growing problem, as I’m sure the filmmakers now know that we already knew. It’s a real story set in and around a real school, with real teachers and real students with families back home who are also involved. We see believable characters in their respective roles, even unsympathetic roles.