Amal

JAWAD RHALIB
Belgium, 2023
111 minutes, Color
Official website

The corner of Brussels where Amal (Lubna Azabal) teaches high school might as well be a small village—everyone is in everyone's business. Are you a secular or Muslim Belgian? Are you Muslim enough? In the classroom, the natural teenage pursuits of gossip and bullying can take on a dangerous quality as the youths expel the pressures of home life. After learning that one of her students, Monia, is being tormented by her peers for being a lesbian, Amal introduces the class to the eighth-century poet Abū Nuwās, who lived and wrote as a bisexual. Threats ensue, and parents, students, and teachers take sides. The young actors seem riveted around an impassioned performance by Azabal as they confront extremism's malign effects on their generation.—Judy Bloch

In French with English subtitles