France 2 viewers had the opportunity of watching Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s magnificent film, ‘Morocco from above’, one day after 2M viewers had watched it.
But unlike the Moroccan channel, France 2 chose to broadcast a second and similar film by the same film director, ‘Algeria from above’, immediately afterwards.
It is true that France 2, like President Macron, is trying to strike a delicate balance between the Kingdom and its eastern neighbour, which explains the very ‘diplomatic’ decision to broadcast both films.
A choice of programming that one can surely not regret since both documentaries showcase landscapes of breath-taking beauty in Morocco as well as in Algeria.
With both films, Yann Arthus-Bertrand has produced two masterpieces with both countries ‘seen from above’, highlighting their diverse landscapes, sites and ruins – Roman, prehistoric and others. The documentaries are fabulous advertisements for both countries, inciting travellers to discover their splendours which have never before been presented so beautifully!
But these two films are also of significant interest because of their accompanying scripts.
Scripts which have been crafted by two renowned media and image professionals – the Franco-Moroccan Ali Baddou and the Franco-Algerian Yazid Tizi.
Arthus-Bertrand also explains that he gave these commentators entire freedom to say what they wanted.
It must be said that the results are exceptional. Both Baddou and Tizi, in their respective ways, express the heartfelt love, respect and attraction that they have for their native countries, much to the delight of viewer, who are given a rare treat of exceptional imagery and sound!!!
But we also note that, while both authors passionately extol the diversity and beauty of their respective landscapes, the political, social, economic and infrastructural realities inevitably find their way into their commentaries.
The camera does not cheat!
Ali Baddou, who proudly refers to his Moroccan roots (Fez and Meknes), his time spent in Rabat and his Moroccan loves, offers opinions and points of view, against a backdrop of Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s photography.
When the camera sweeps over the magnificent cable-stayed bridge, Africa’s longest, spanning the Bou Regreg, he highlights the colossal infrastructure development programme that the country has embarked on since the beginning of King Mohammed VI’s reign, the Tangier-Med free trade zone as well as the construction and real estate boom.
As the images scroll past, we can also see the magnificent Atlas Mountain range and its valleys, the Kasbahs of the Draa Valley, the green domes of Moulay Yacoub, the beaches of Asilah and Essaouira, the modern buildings of Casablanca and Rabat’s green spaces.
But Ali Baddou cannot hold back from talking about the progress made by a Morocco which is ‘on the move’, a country which practices an Islamic tradition that embodies tolerance, which guarantees freedom of religious practice to the followers of the revealed religions and which underlines the contribution of the Moroccan Jewish community in helping build the nation’s identity.
The talented author also shows us the Noor solar power station near Ouarzazate, highlights the country’s renewable energy programme with the camer focusing on wind turbines and proves, thanks to Arthus-Bertrand, that the Moroccan Sahara is a development zone which, first and foremost, generates wealth for its inhabitants, the peoples of Dakhla and Laâyoune, which have now largely abandoned their nomadic status.
The film ‘Morocco from above’ reveals the tremendous progress made by the Kingdom over the past two decades. We cannot accuse the director of any form of bias – the images are ‘raw’ and as ‘eloquent’ as the commentary of Ali Baddou himself!
An Ali Baddou who also doesn’t hesitate to draw attention to the risk of groundwater depletion in Dakhla, the need to promote women’s rights and gender equality in education, etc.
Sites of exceptional beauty, but…
Yazid Tizi adopts an identical approach. Mention must also be made that ‘Algeria from above’ was produced in 2015 and broadcast on French television channels.
Algeria is undeniably a country with diverse landscapes and panoramas, teeming with hundreds of sites of exceptional beauty, where the largest and best-preserved Roman ruins may be found, where the riches of the Algerian Sahara invite the traveller to discover its splendid treasures, particularly from prehistoric times.
But Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s camera cannot be something that it is not. It is an instrument which reveals the stark realities of today’s Algeria, without any concessions, without any ‘make-over’. This is particularly true when it films the overpopulated Kasbah of Algiers in its undeniably dilapidated state, Bab El Oued in its sorry condition or the areas neighbouring the Post office, the sole landmark of ‘Algiers the White’, which no longer deserves this epithet.
Yazid Tizi struggles to avoid saying what he sees and what we all know, an Algeria which imports more than 90% of the foodstuffs, capital goods, cars etc. consumed by its people.
An Algeria which cannot hide the fact that it is totally dependent on oil and gas production, ignoring non-fossil fuels, while Yazid Tizi shows us outdated industrial plants which have been around for fifty years, such as the one in Arzew!
Oran from above, with commentary provided by Tizi, provides a tiny hint of modernity but it’s only in the facade of a building. The rest dates back to the colonial period, Raï, the Spanish presence, the pieds noirs, the settlers who recognised the potential of the Mitidja Plain.
What is also striking from the script of this Franco-Algerian author is that he constantly harks back to the period when Algeria was a French territory with, understandably, the wounds of the war to liberate the Algerian people still raw, and to the colonial legacy which, even fifty years later, still makes its presence felt!
Algeria from above is also the construction of the Great Mosque of Algiers by Chinese ‘builders’, transfers of money from France, EUR 4 billion received officially every year and EUR 7 billion ‘informally’.
It is Algiers’ fishermen who complain that they no longer have any fish in their nets, it is the paltry cereal harvests, a sector which once upon a time exported millions of tons of cereals to France before independence etc.
Yazid Tizi explains, describes and justifies, with honesty and insight, but he cannot hide what the camera reveals.
This is why, in the end, the two films of Yann Arthus-Bertrand are so similar and yet so different.
Because the camera cannot lie, regardless of how good the commentary is…
Fahd YATA
Original article : https://lnt.ma/maroc-lalgerie-vus-ciel-ya-photo/
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