It premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, the 2023 Vancouver International Film Festival, the 28th Busan International Film Festival, and is now premiering at the Film Girl Film Festival in Chicago at the Music Box Theatre. It is a complex narration of an honest reality through the eyes of writer, director, and narrator Asmae El Moudir. The filmportrays the truth of Asmae’s life growing up in Morocco. The way this filmmaker deeply explores issues and delves into uncharted territory makes The Mother of All Lies simply unforgettable.

The plot of the film lies in the depths of Asmae’s family where they are trying to find light. Asmae’s grandmother is Zahra, and her father is Mohamed. Her family is coping with much mental turmoil due to the massacres during the 1981 Bread Riots. The films realism is portrayed through both lightness and darkness.  There are haunting truths which encourage empathy because of the dynamics the family is facing. The poetics of Asmae’s exploration of her family history is full of surrealistic grandeur. Asmae’s grandmother is against photographs, because she feels it captures moments that are too painful for her tolerate. Because Asmae  is the film’s director, she controls the setup from anartist’s perspective. As a result, she is able to get to the root of where the pain lies within her family and herself.

The foundational story comes through the fascination of Asmae’s father. He builds an atelier with clay figurines which serves the purpose of representing moments in from the family’s past. The setting of the clay figurines is the Sebata District of Casablanca during the 1981 Bread Riots. This perspective featured in the film enthralled me.  Asmae’s father puts a great deal of effort into his models and clay figurines. They all serve a purpose in the present by representing some of the hardest moments from the past. I found it spellbinding.

This film set in Morocco is based upon a story which is beautifully written and thoughtfully examined. Asmae’s voice tells the story of many events in her turmoil-filled life that stir up her family dynamics. The story may portray a celebration for some, but for Asmae, it is about portraying the truth about her life growing up in Morocco. I felt empathy for Asmae while also being enchanted by the film’s visually grand odyssey. The street models and clay figurines representing a specific era serve to create a form of acceptance and appreciation in The Mother of All Lies.

All the explorations through Asmae’s family history make thismovie experience special. It is a unique documentary which is on point because of the value created by this landscape of faithful curiosity. It is extremely intriguing to explore the various aspects of the events which Asmae examines with her family. The voyage into uncharted territory of the past hits anemotional chord where art comes to life in The Mother of All Lies. Four out of four stars.