Allouache’s film “Salut Cousin” depicts the tale of two Algerians, Mok and Alilo experiencing highs and lows in a slum of Paris. They are both confused about their own personal identities, Mok lies about his background and tries to convince people that he is from a lower class than he really is in order to gain some sort of credibility. At the same time, Alilo is the “country boy” who is confused about life in the “big city.” Because of this cultural collision, we get a humorous look at the ongoings of these two somewhat out of place individuals. This film reminded me more of an episode of “Perfect Strangers,” than anything. The comedic spin made it interesting, yet, at times, seemed to take away from the rich cultural issues that were at hand.
The transnational Identity exists within the Algerian people living in Paris. When we see Mok’s parents watching Algerian Television we are aware of their hunger to belong to their country which is ravaged by the Islamic Fundamentalist Revolution, they know they will never be able to, yet they also know that they will never feel at home in France.
Both cousins have Algerian commonalities that bond them in recognition of a “true self.” As they traipse through the nightmare of being an “other” Mok realizes that his stylish city clothing and aspiring rap career are nothing more than a veneer to project a sense of belonging.
Racism is a powerful theme in the movie, depicting it graphically in the scene where Fatoumata gets attacked by skinheads in the telephone booth. This contrasts the carnival style melting pot image that we are first shown. The Parisian dream is crushed for Alilo as he becomes conscious of the Algerian struggle that is not remedied by leaving home and living the fast life.
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I agree with the fact that the comedic aspects of the film kind of took away from the serious issues they were addressing. The film to me also seemed very predicatble, a typical story about two cousins who meet after not seeing each other for a long time. The fact that it was set in two conflicting places, a suburb of Paris and Algiers, made the film more interesting, but it still lacked a twist of any kind I thought.
However, it was very interesting to see the way that the people living in France thought about their home country of Algeria. His name escapes me but the scene with the man who had the bag that Alilo needed to pick up for his boss was one of my favorites. The way he talked about Algiers with such longing and saddness really showed the struggle that each of those people felt as they escaped their homeland to get to a place they would never really be able to call home.
"Salut Cousin" shows another aspect of identity exploration and discovery that we have not yet seen in our film viewings. Omar Gatlato exemplifies the difficuluties in dealing with gender identity, whereas here, we see cultural indentity being explored.
I think it is interesting to note that despite some of the comedic aspects of the film, it still deals wth very complex issues. The pain and the clear discomfort that Mok and Alilo feel is noticeable due to the fact that they are unsure where home truly lies. It becomes evident that their heart remains in Algeria, though their physical bodies have been relocated to Paris.
You and Tricerasam is right. The comedic aspects of Salut Cousin! takes away from the more pressing issues of the film. The comedy puts the serious issues of the Algerian Revolution to the backburner.
But, the comedy also helps make the film more digestable and consumable for the audience. This helps create a useful paradox, can that which creates laughter inform and educate? Should comedy just be a form of light fare? Or is comedy a useful tool that can be used to help create new spins on old ideas? A negative stigma has been placed on comedy over the years.
Though "Salut Cousin!" is not a purely comedic film, it does emphasize on it. There are other filmic attributes that further its enjoyability and informity. The brilliant use of mise-en-scene creates a realistic portrayal of the Algerian Revolution. The contrast of Bougious Paris versus the slums of the thrid world are breathtaking.
I totally agree about this film being very reminiscent of "Perfect Strangers," albeit a much more serious version. It also is a perfect example of "the grass is always greener." Humans tend to value more the things that they don't have, and value less the things that they do have. Mok's family has the "luxury" of France at their disposal, in the form of French television, but never watch it. Alilo remarks that French television is all they ever watch in Algiers. This scene shows that perhaps Mok's family longs for the comforts of home in Algiers, instead of basking in the glow of French society which Alilo expects them to do. On the other hand, Alilo, who lives in Algiers, is very impressed with Paris and French society.
Regarding the scene where those thugs attack Fatoumata in the phone booth, I have to say that I didn't think they were skinheads. I thought that they were just some punks getting their thrills from terrorizing a woman. Perhaps I missed that one.
As far as the movie as a whole is concerned, it was done in a much more narrative fashion compared to Allouache's other film that we watched and I found it to be more entertaining. The scene where Alilo goes into the strip club was sad in the sense that he was trying to replace Fatoumata, with whom he has real romantic feelings, with the stripper for whom he just feels empty lust. Perhaps this was Alilo's attempt at compensating for a relationship with Fatoumata that at the time he felt he never would have the chance to have.
I agree, Mok's parents watch the Algerian channel because it's a way for them to come into contact with their culture. In a city far from home and far from being home they struggle to fit in. I enjoyed the humor, i found that it add a lot more to the movie and to the identity of each character, it also keeps the audience a live.
This movie portrays how we human beings are, we are never satisfied with what we have and we long to change places with others. We are never content with what we have or sometimes we have it all and we are not grateful, such as Mok and his family.
I think one of the most important aspects of this movie is the national/cultural identity of the main characters. The fact that they cant go to their home country because it is basically being destroyed and they are forced to live in a different country with a different cultural pool. The Algerian people are forced to change their ways to fit the Parisian lifestyle. What makes it worse is that they will never be Parisian- they will always be Algerian and will always be viewed as lower than Parisians. This is expressed in the movie and I think it was the most powerful aspect of it.
I disagree with the comment made about how Mok doesn't appreciate anything in his life. Mok was grateful for the people in his life which are his cousin, his "girl" and his fish. Not that his family wasn't important to him, it was more that he is simply no longer connected to them the way Mok's cousin is. The audience can see this by the way Mok acts when he finds out Ailio went to see the family. If there was anyone who didn't appreciate the people around them, it would have to be Omar from the previous film we just watched.
I agree with what you said about both Alilo and Mok not fitting in with the culture in Paris. Mok is unable to become a rap singer and obtain fame and wealth, so he feels somewhat isolated, and Alilo is a country boy not suited for city life, as you stated. This makes life in Paris difficult for both of them, leaving Alilo confused and Mok ashamed.
I think that to some degree Alilo fits in with the Paris culture better than Mok, even though Alilo doesn't live there and Mok does. From what we're shown about life in Paris, we can see that it is very violent and somewhat corrupt. One example that shows this is the scene where the woman in the phonebooth is attacked by one gang, which is then chased off by another gang. Another example is the scene which depicts the wedding, which is fabricated and is only taking place so that it exists on paper. Alilo's job is to go to Paris to obtain valuable clothing, and then smuggle them back to Algeria to sell them. The nature of his work makes him seem more like the Paris citizens than Mok, who risks everything he has in order to achieve his dreams.
I agree with quinn, a very important aspect of the movie was the cultural and national identity. Paris being a completly different place to Algeria, no matter how hard Alilo tried to fit in, his identity of being an algerian country boy always stuck with him. Being a native algerian or immigrated one in Paris has shown its difference through the cousins, one coming out of the country un familiar with the others way of living who makes rap mmusic and lies about his succesfulness. BUt overall, the important aspect is trying to assimilate into a new culture and finding your identity.
I disagree with the comments stating that the comedic aspects pulled away from the serious themes of the film. I think that a lot of the time, comedy is more succesful in truly getting to the heart of issues than drama is, because comedies dont take themselves as seriously. Comedy isn't always just used to simply make a film more digestable, and I definitely dont think that that was the case in this film. I thought that in this case especially, a film in which the comedy was not over the top and was rather poignant and fitting, the comedy did not at all pull away from the themes, it served as a different way to illustrate them.
I think that the comedic and light hearted aspects of the film, give it a much more blockbuster feel of a mass media generated narrative vs. Omar Gatlato. Those aspects lighten the social issues that were going on in Algeria at the time. We are vaugely reminded that there is even something terrible happening else where from the setting of the slums in Paris.
It is interesting to see that each character that has a connection to alergia, trying to define themselves with dual terms of living in Paris and having an Algerian background. This movie seems to humanize the situation of the Algerian Revolution, putting into prospective that there is life that is day to day and not just about revolution. These lives the characters in Salut Cousin! are ordinary, people attempting to define and redefine who they are in relation to their nationalaties and current living situations.
This film along with the others we have seen give different viewpoints of the same main event.
I think the comedic aspects and underlying tone of the film were imperative to the interpretation of its hot topics of cultural identity and self-belonging. I definitely agree that one of the main conflicts in this film is the two men's conflicts with themselves and their lack of "home" like when Mok lies about himself to try to fit in and how the country boy Alilo feels displaced in the city of Paris. I felt that the humor allowed us to step out of our heads and see something from another vantage point. I think people who watch this film purely for entertainment's sake will have understood everything discussed in this blog and what we discuss in class like ideas of transnational identity. Without its comedy, the film looses the delivery that helps its audience connect with it and these deeper issues.
Thats so0o0 truee!!!! I can understand what the cousins go through sometimes as they look for their home lands. I thought how the violence helped reiterate the sturggles they have to go through as they find a home. The humor was needed becuase the true struggle of feeling like you dont belong anywhere can crush anybody!
Looking into their worlds was interesting. As in Omar Getlato, i thought it was cool to see the many struggles they face.
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