Keswick Film Club - You Will Die At Twenty

Synopsis

"Sudanese film-maker Amjad Abu Alala's radiant drama dares to wonder if death could inspire courage rather than fear. In a small village near the Nile, the sheik and his dervish declare that baby Muzamil will die on his 20th birthday. His mother, Sakina, wears black, in premature mourning. Muzamil spends his sheltered youth studying the Qur'an and avoiding the Nile (too many crocodiles), not prepared to meet his end even a second early. Until he encounters Sulaiman, a former journalist who feasts on movies, booze and girls. 'Try sinning,' he suggests. But teenage transgression isn't a foregone conclusion. Mustafa Shehata dials up the brooding Muzamil's inner turmoil as he questions the beliefs he's swallowed whole" – Simran Hans Observer.

"The film is a parable about the dangers of blind faith in religion and authority, but it's also warmly compassionate and accepting of human nature. The baby's father can't cope; he leaves the village to work abroad, telling his wife, Sakina, that she's stronger, she'll manage... And she does; understandably, she becomes overprotective... And there are some gorgeous images here, too, such as flecks of dust glimmering in beams of sunlight or banks of the Nile, which give the movie a kind of mythic otherworldliness" - Cath Clarke, Guardian.