Extraordinary rendition: An appalling practice often performed by the United States in these post-9/11 times. For those of you not clued in by now, extraordinary rendition refers to when the U.S. (or someone else, but usually the U.S.) extracts (kidnaps) someone (often a U.S. citizen) to secretly (Rice denies this exists) torture him (nearly always a him) in a foreign country.

Rendition: A film starring Reese Witherspoon, Omar Metwally, and Jake Gyllenhaal in which Metwally’s character (an Egyptian-American U.S. permanent resident) is extracted upon arrival into the U.S. and extradited to “North Africa” to be tortured into admission of involvement in terrorism. The movie was filmed primarily in Marrakesh, Morocco.

The good:

• Witherspoon gave a heartbreaking performance as the wife of Metwally’s character.
• Metwally, who was nominated for a Tony a couple years ago, was also very good.
• Filming in Morocco boosts the economy.
• Making a major Hollywood blockbuster film about extraordinary rendition can only help to open the eyes of ignorant Americans.

The bad:

• Although it was filmed in Morocco, references were only made to “North Africa.”
• Tons of inaccuracies - women wore their hijab Iranian-style (halfway back on the head), a reporter on Al Jazeera was shown wearing hijab (would never happen), the “North African” characters spoke Fus’ha.
• The Moroccan torturer (played by Yigal Naor, who will soon play Saddam Hussein in a mini-series) was shown as the bad guy, while Gyllenhaal’s character was shown as the good guy.
• Two “North African jihadi” characters were shown in a photo holding machine guns (would never happen in Morocco) and wearing what looked like Chechen headbands.

The ugly:

• Meryl Streep’s acting.

While I’m sure there had to have been a reason for the ambiguity of the country, to the enlightened it would appear that the fact-checkers didn’t do their jobs. Also, if ambiguity was desired, then why film in Djemaa al-Fna?

The only thing that truly pleased me was the general plot, which interwove the Metwally/Witherspoon storyline with one involving the Moroccan torturer’s family…but I’m not going to spoil anything for you.

Basically - if you’re not educated on all things MENA, then watch with skepticism. Otherwise, be sure to giggle when Gyllenhaal’s character arrogantly stands up against that of the Moroccan torturer.

And on one other, slightly silly point - at least three of the actors were also in Munich, the somewhat lame Spielberg film released in 2005. Is there a shortage of multi-lingual Arab actors or something?

You can tell how out of the loop I’ve been by how long this website has been up without me reporting on it: I Love Hip Hop in Morocco - the film - launched this summer and will be playing at several upcoming festivals.

You have no idea - I’ve secretly had the (apparently, very secret) trailer on my computer for over a year and although I’m no longer in contact with anyone who worked on the film, the prospect of such a documentary is immensely exciting. As one of the reviewers says: “Two things the far right can’t stand - hip-hop and Muslims - come together in this documentary.”

I wrote about this awhile back, but for some background - In 2005, a Fulbrighter named Josh Asen traveled to Morocco to study ethnomusicology and ended up producing a concert series and subsequently a documentary on Morocco’s burgeoning hip-hop scene.

For those of you unfamiliar with the scene, you need only look around any of Morocco’s bigger cities (and even some of the smaller towns) to see kids dressed in the latest hip-hop fashions (a phrase often taught in English language schools) and Yankees caps, imitating their favorite American, French and now Moroccan hip hop stars.

Popular Moroccan MCs include Bigg, who speaks fluent English and raps about the problems facing his country; H-Kayne, one of the oldest groups and from Meknes, where I lived for two years; and Fnaire, another group featured in the documentary. I’d provide links, but the I Love Hip Hop in Morocco page is very thorough and has done a better job than I could attempt.

My favorite thing about the movement, if I may call it that, is that it has inspired a lot of young urban kids (as it once did in my own country) to make their own music, often much to the dismay of their parents. My brother-in-law, who has met every group mentioned and was at the original concert (and still talks about meeting Josh) is one such example - an incredibly intelligent kid who doesn’t like school all that much but excels at music and the arts…and may soon have an outlet in which to do so.

**Addendum: For those of you in NYC, please support this film at the Queens Film Festival - November 10 at PS 166.

Ghasbouba and I just wrapped up an interview for Global Voices that is currently featured on the front page - check it out!

A far more positive article (than the one about the dates) on the coexistence between Moroccan Muslims and Jews is here.

They even managed to find an anti-Zionist Communist Jew to quote!

Despite my love for the country, I spent a good deal of time in Morocco complaining about certain habits that drove me crazy.  Those that bothered me the most were probably the horrifying driving habits of Moroccans (particularly young males), spitting on the street, and the constant sexual harassment I received even when wearing a djellaba.

While I can safely say the third never happens to me in the States, and that I was fully aware that Americans (particularly those in my current state of residence) aren’t the world’s best drivers, I was unpleasantly surprised to notice how many people here spit on the ground as well.

Now keep this in mind - I grew up in a small, polite New England town where only “hooligans” might spit, and it wasn’t a big thing in college either.  So imagine my surprise moving to the “big city” - the other night Hamza and I were waiting for the train and counted one man spitting at least eight times in one minute.  Miffed, Hamza turned to me and said, “Why did you say that Moroccans’ spitting habit is disgusting?  They do it here too.”  I tried to defend myself in earnest, having not seen that all too often before, but the truth is - EW.  I can’t believe how many people I’ve noticed spitting since that night.  And not even polite spitting off to the side.  Actual hocking up of loogies, just like I witnessed daily in Morocco.  Well count me horrified.

At least I haven’t seen anyone blowing snot rockets here…yet.

I can’t believe I didn’t post about this sooner - I suppose it’s worth mentioning that now that I live in Boston and work full-time (as opposed to my previous life as a 20-hour-per-week English teacher), I don’t have the time for blogging that I used to.  I also don’t have the internet like I used to.

Anyhow, as I wrote over at Global Voices last week, the most newsworthy story involving Morocco in my head is that of Madeleine McCann’s apparent lookalike, young Riffain Berber girl Bouchra Benaissa.  Spanish tourists traveling through the Rif (most likely on a hashish buying mission) photographed a young blonde girl on the back of an older, traditionally dressed woman and submitted it to authorities on suspicion that the girl looked a little too much like Madeleine McCann, the missing British child.

Thus, the Benaissa family was intruded upon because the Spanish were too stupid to recognize that Moroccans (their next door neighbors, one might add) come in all colors.  Honestly - that’s how I see it.  I’ve received some comments arguing that the Spanish tourists did the right thing, as there have been previous “sightings” of Madeleine in Morocco and that Bouchra does bear a resemblance to her, but I have to disagree.  A blonde girl upon the shoulders of a traditionally dressed woman does not a Briton make.

In other words, this is racial profiling at its worst (or best, depending on how you look at it).  Morocco is full of diversity - Just in my job as a teacher, I taught at least five redheads (who could’ve been plucked from Ireland), two blondes with blue eyes, several green-eyed folks with olive skin, plenty who appeared African, and a mix of all of the above.

Or as blogger Naim put it best: “The main purpose of my post is to show just one fact. The nearest neighbours of Morocco have a total ignorance about the ethnic reality of Morocco.”