Layla M. (2016)
Genre: Drama
Duration: 98 minuten
Country:
Netherlands
Directed by: Mijke de Jong
Stars: Nora El Koussour, Ilias Addab and Hassan Akkouch
IMDb score:
6,6 (2.149)
Releasedate: 17 November 2016
This movie is not available on US streaming services.
Layla M. plot
The 18-year-old Muslim Layla with a Moroccan background was born and raised in Amsterdam, but feels less and less at home in the Netherlands. Gradually she radicalises and joins a group of radical Muslims. She finds a world that nourishes and tears her ideals apart.
Actors and actresses
Layla
Abdel
Zine
Oum Osama
Sheikh Abdullah Al Sabin
Gastheer vluchthuis antwerpen
Senna
Vader
Jihadi trainingscamp Belgium
AIVD agent
Reviews & comments
tbouwh
-
- 5823 messages
- 5404 votes
Layla M. will evoke divided reactions, and already does so as we speak. I found it interesting to see that two reviewer friends spoke of nuance, while in my opinion it was hard to find... .
Personally, I found the film rather unsubtle. In an hour and a half, Mijke de Jong attempts to provide an image of radicalization. That is daring, because I have had the idea for years (and I am not the only one) that radicalization as a process is so much more complex than it is represented in many news sources. De Jong also cannot avoid a number of 'standard variables': the agitated teenager, the right environment (including already radicalized boyfriend and future husband) and a conflict with moderate parents. That is troubling, because in this way you reduce radicalization to a pattern, which I wonder whether it even exists. I especially had trouble with the ending: why show regret, why the camera so close to the tears? The contrast with the 'former' Layla was too great for me. You implicitly generate the image that this 'kind' of girls eventually realizes that they have gotten carried away - and ultimately just want to go home.
As a film outside of that, I didn't find Layla M. interesting anywhere. Nora El Koussour's critically acclaimed acting, I don't see it, not to mention the boy who plays Abdel. Now it has to be said that in my opinion it was mainly the script that was lacking. Naturally, this also has an effect on the acting. No matter what Layla said or did, I didn't believe her. The image kept coming to mind that a girl can be carried away by fundamentalist ideas, but not in this way. It's too easy, the context is too perfect and Layla's character sketch lacks much-needed nuance.
1*
Translated from Dutch · View original
Black Math
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- 5430 messages
- 1753 votes
Interesting movie. Normally you see films in which the parents are fanatical and the children try to escape from this, but here it is the daughter who is fanatical. I also had some different expectations of how the film would turn out, namely that the main character herself would also become radically like her husband, but in the end she turns out to have limits. Furthermore, she seems a bit naive to me. She seems shocked when (I assume, because we don't get to see the footage) she is shown a beheading video. She turns away from Dutch society, but doesn't really seem to know what she wants. Or at least she hasn't given it much thought and certainly hasn't discussed it with her husband
Anyway, young people are often naive and that is what this film is about in a sense, but as a result the main character is mainly someone who lets herself be carried away, especially in the second half of the film, which makes the plot seem somewhat vague to the viewer. to drag. Add to that the hideous and amateurish camera work (lens flares can be nice, but here they sometimes cover the actors in an unplanned way and that looks very clumsy) and I end up with a measly 2*.
Translated from Dutch · View original
mrklm
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- 11629 messages
- 10041 votes
Layla [Nora El Koussour] finds sufficient reasons in her daily life to oppose discrimination and exclusion as a Muslim woman. Her father [Mohamed Azaay] refuses to have a serious conversation with his daughter about her feelings and her views and when she cannot count on understanding from her brother Younes [Bilal Wahib], she seeks and finds support from an action group that allows her to comes into contact with Abdel [Ilias Addab]. He promises her mountains of gold if she marries him, but Layla learns the hard way that reality is very different. Mijke de Jong wrote the screenplay with Jan Eilander, but still manages to create a credible image of an Islamic family in which old values and traditions clash with those of the society in which Layla from Amsterdam grew up. Layla's gradual development from self-confident young woman to radical activist is convincing, partly thanks to the excellent performance of the debuting El Koussour. The only downside: the open ending.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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