Word: bilal
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...sight. The obvious solution is to hop on a train to Morocco and start anew. Right. The film starts abruptly, shoving you into their life in Morocco where the girls run wild through the dirt streets and mommy sells handmade dolls. One random day a street performer named Bilal (Taghmaoui) walks--on his hands--into their lives, and quickly becomes a lover to Julia and surrogate father for the two daughters. Hey, it could happen--it's the '60s and we're in Morocco...
Although they are a happy family for a while, the money soon runs out and they are forced to embark on a journey of sorts. In typical hippy style they backpack it to Bilal's hometown, to a lakeside campground, a rich Englishman's house and so on, constantly looking for food and money. Getting separated from first Bilal and then the daughter Bea Keeps the plot moving, and the wonderful shots of Morocco (the film was shot entirely on location) flirt with your eyes...
...exchange rate--Julia has dragged her kids from chilly London to sunny Marrakech, where she vaguely hopes to achieve spiritual transcendence by linking up with the mystical Sufi sect. Unfortunately, the support checks from the girls' faraway father arrive only erratically. Julia takes up with a sometime acrobat named Bilal (Said Taghmaoui), whose charm is matched by his fecklessness. They are all blown this way and that by minor mishaps, passing acts of grace, and the suspense of the movie derives from our wondering whether Julia will come to her senses before irretrievable disaster overtakes these innocent adventurers...
...film's strength, however, comes from another place: the unblinking objectivity with which it views their trials. The children are not sentimentalized (though we worry about the emptiness of their days as they drag along in the grownups' wake). Bilal is not idealized (his generosity is balanced--or maybe one should say unbalanced--by his impetuosity), and neither is Julia. Caring and good-natured though she is, we can't help being disturbed by the fact that all her motherly alarm bells seem to be disabled...
...Sante Kimes' who was found shot to death in a Dumpster near Los Angeles International airport in March. Police suspect the Kimeses may have fraudulently obtained a $260,000 loan on property listed in his name. And Bahamian police have unanswered questions about the death of banker Syed Bilal Ahmed, who vanished in Nassau in September 1996. Sante Kimes reportedly had dealings with Ahmed shortly before he disappeared...