They are the Dogs (Hicham Lasri)

They are the Dogs is a mixture of satire and political commentary by Moroccan director Hicham Lasri. It portrays a visual media crew of pompous TV journalist, grumpy old cameraman and young soundman who were assigned to cover the Arab Spring protests in Casablanca.

The TV crew meets a man wandering among the crowd in a daze, unable to remember his own name, only his prison number: 404. A tall fellow in a ragged plaid jacket, and they smell a good story in that amnesiac man just released from prison. A man who has been detained for 30 years by Moroccan authorities is suddenly released during the Arab Spring. Gradually 404 becomes obsessed about finding out what remains of his past, and confusion gives way to determination.

Lotfi (Yahya El Fouandi) is a journalist sent to report on political unrest with cameraman Hasska (Jalal Boulftaim) and their sound recordist (Imad Fijjaj). But they are more interested in looking at pretty girls.

Lotfi notices Majhoul (Hassan Badida), a confused man uninterested in being interviewed. After some pestering, Lotfi realizes that Majhoul has just been released from the jail after 30 years as a political prisoner. Despite major memory gaps he  is looking for his wife and kids. No media person could ignore that kind of human-interest story. So Lotfi and crew promise to help piece together the puzzle and find Majhoul’s family.

The man had walked out of his home to buy some training wheels for his son’s bike and found himself scooped up by the police as a subversive during the bread riots in the city in 1981, when widespread hunger caused people to revolt.

Radio and TV news reports of the action in the aftermath of the Arab Spring is used as a background in the film. Crowds complaining about unemployment in Morocco to descriptions of unrest in Libya, Syria and the like, the whole atmosphere is filled with discontent. It is evident that Lasri feels Moroccans haven’t done enough demand change and challenge the establishment. It is an implied criticism of the monarchy levelled in the guise of neutral news stories.

The film is a kind of disgust with a large section of Moroccans who could not agitate for a change. The events that led to Majhoul’s arrest in 1981 agitation are now part of distant memory. They are the dog’s strong implication is that current cries for freedom will also be crushed and forgotten.

It is a surreal story between history and farce, human interest and media cynicism. The wild comic energy in the first half vanishes as the film goes on. Hassan Badida’s consummate comic performance in the main role is praiseworthy.  Morocco’s political situation furnishes a serious undercurrent to 404's personal drama. The men who disappeared in 1981 have now been forgotten, but the winds of revolt are still around.