Bahti (Lotfi Abdelli) is a talented, girl-loving, Tunisian breakdancer and pretty much the last person you’d expect to find under the tutelage of an Islamist cleric with Al Qaeda sympathies (Lotfi Dziri), begging for a chance a shot at the suicide bombing big-time. That, however, is the precise trajectory traced by Nouri Bouzid’s astute and emotionally adept, but initially slow-moving, look at the causes of terrorism.
“Making Of” starts out as pretty much a straight-up neorealist look at the issue, as we spend time observing how limited 25 year-old Bahti’s life has become and how the U.S. invasion of Iraq provides a powerful, but ideologically confused, focus for his generalized anger. Then, just as Bahti starts to be carefully schooled on the ways of hating Westerners and despising women, the film takes a sudden meta/post-modern turn as the actor Lotfi Abdelli switches from Arabic to French, goes out of character, and begins to angrily question the nature of the film to director Bouzid, and suddenly the title becomes a self-conscious double entendre. These staged segments appear to be aimed at diffusing anger among Tunisians who prefer to deny the existence of terrorism in their homeland, as well as observant Moslems who might be insulted by the film’s respectful, yet critical, look at modern day Islam. In any case, Bouzid’s film is compelling viewing, largely because of two charismatic lead performances from Abdelli as the alienated youth and Lotfi Dziri as the low-key fanatic who indoctrinates him in the ways of hate and death. With its strong stand against terrorism and outspoken humanism, “Making Of” is a thoughtful and poignant choice for Westerners curious about exactly what is being said and thought on the so-called Arab “street.”
