Harragas Page #4

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No, it's you who don't get it.

You have no idea what I went through.

How I have suffered with them!

What they made me do!

Boat pilots, my ass!

Move, I'll fix the engine.

Move, move!

Don't you touch the engine!

Sit back down!

What d'ya say?

I said sit down and shut up

or I'll finish you!

Oh, you want to play tough guy again?

You are acting like a pimp since the start.

Let him go!

We're going to capsize!

I was ashamed

we all shouted

but none of us was brave enough

to help Hakim

we were paralyzed by fear.

Shine the light this way!

You know what he was listening to?

The Holy Koran.

God have his soul.

This Hakim, was he...

a friend of yours?

Yes.

Before.

I noticed he never talked to you.

We haven't talked for years.

Rachid, cut it!

What, I'm just answering his questions.

He is dead, may he rest in peace.

The rest, it's all history now.

You want to know?

He used to be their best friend.

He asked to marry me and I said no.

Since then...

it's over.

I'm sorry.

She was as beautiful as the moon.

Like an angel in the night.

It was me she was looking at.

I could even smell her perfume

'Shalimar' from Guerlain.

Even today I'm not sure

if it was a dream or reality.

I don't care.

Guess we'll have to peddle now.

We're not far from the coast.

Hold him, help him down!

Take it easy, the boat is tipping over!

Hold his head.

He'll be all right.

Sh*t!

What now?

Where are the peddles?

Where they should be, no?

Look under the jerrycans!

Under the jerrycans!

Nothing!

That's all we need!

You see this only now?

You didn't check either!

Stop shouting!

Hassan did it on purpose so we'd die!

God punished him!

Why do you say this?

- Hassan is dead?

- Yes he's dead.

The cop killed him in the woods.

Oh my god!

He had it coming on him.

All right.

We'll have to swim.

Can you guys swim?

Where could we have learned?

We're from the Sahara.

We've never seen the sea.

He said he would give us life-jackets.

Idiots! You want to cross the Mediterranean

and you can't even swim.

What are you going to do now?

Stop it! Give them a break!

We'd better wait till dawn,

safer then.

And them?

You want to leave them here?

We can't help them.

They'll have to wait

until some boat picks them up.

We can't follow the french.

Talk in Arabic!

I speak what language I want!

You go to Europe and you don't

even speak french!

Ho ho, calm down.

Let's think of something.

I have calmed down already.

I have to tell you one thing:

when you wake up just ashore from Spain,

I swear the Spanish sun

smells of paella.

That's really something.

Pure bliss my friend,

heaven on earth.

Nasser!

We've got to go now.

Wake her up now.

I'm staying.

It's not your fault if

they can't swim, okay?

We've been preparing for a year,

now don't drag!

What's going on?

We can't just leave them like that.

I prefer to stay.

Make up your mind! Now!

Imne, talk to him.

Tell him to come.

If a boat picks you up,

it means deportation...

beatings, trial, prison, and after that...

a stupid life in a f***ed-up country.

Please Imne, talk to him.

Imne I'm begging you.

I'm staying with him.

Okay then.

You can go if you want.

Okay.

You do as you like.

Listen my friend,

You'd better go swimming too.

I'm really sorry for you.

May god be with you.

...and with us, God bless.

Your only chance is to wait for a boat.

It's win or lose.

We know that.

Legalisation, or deportation...

What if it's a Moroccan boat?

They say it's hell then.

They just beat you up,

then they put you in a camp

and let you rot there like dogs.

I don't want to go to jail again.

You were in jail?

Six months.

After last year's riots.

I will keep trying

they can send me back a thousand times.

I learned swimming when I was three.

My uncle threw me in the water

and said "either you swim, or you drown".

I must've drinked liters, but I could swim

He was crazy, that uncle!

But thanks to him I can swim.

You are ready?

Hey guys, good luck!

God bless!

Let's go, swim.

C'mon, you can do it!

Go, go, go.

Tewfik, pile up the clothes they left.

We burn the clothes

If a boat comes by, they'll see the smoke.

They will rescue us.

What do you think?

Good idea.

When my feet touched the sand,

I thanked God for helping the harragas.

Without Him, I would have never made it.

Nasser! Come back!

I can't go any further.

Hey, Adel!

Listen, you live in a cold country, cold!

Lucky the sun is shining.

Of course I made it you bastard!

What did I tell you?

Yeah...

Listen... Put the beer in the fridge!

Tomorrow, if God will,

I will arrive at your place.

Yeah, sure, we will drink to that!

Hey listen now, listen...

Tell Agns I'm on my way.

Okay, good bye my friend.

Ali!

Spain!

And you just sit there doing nothing!

I can't stay here!

I have to go, let me go!

I can't stay here! I'm going!

Where do you want to go?

I'm going to Spain,

I'm going now!

I'm sick of it!

I can't stay here!

Let me go!

Stop it! Calm down!

I want to go!

Get me out!

We can touch bottom, there we are.

You can stop swimming!

I can't stand on my legs.

Yes, you can walk from here.

We're there.

Help me.

We've got one...

A man and a woman on the beach.

Imne was deported two days later.

Me and Nasser met back

at the detention center.

There were more than 300 of us

at the detention centre

From all over.

Senegal, Mali, Morocco...

That was misery, my friend.

We were all disgusted in the same way

The shattered hope...

Having to head back home...

Back to the problems...

I wondered if Omar wasn't right after all.

And now?

What do we do?

We get dry!

And we get some rest.

Take it easy, okay?

There's no hurry.

A boat!

Light it up!

Over here!

Help!

Come rescue us!

Bastards!

They're not stopping.

Racists!

Bastards! Scumbags!

Watch out, the wave!

Hold tight!

They're coming!

Viva Spain!

See how he looks at us?

I don't know what happened to them.

Maybe they got papers,

maybe they were deported.

God only knows.

That's life.

A fragment of our life.

A cursed life!

A life I wouldn't wish on anyone.

That's why I told you this story.

Between 1998 and February 2009,

no less than 13444 migrants died

at the European border,

including 5182 missed at sea.

In the Mediterranean and Atlantic sea,

9500 migrants lost their lives.

In the straight of Sicily, 3163 people died

between Libya, Egypt,

Tunisia, Malta and Italy.

and 125 other on new routes

between Algeria and Sardinia.

4399 died off the Canary Islands

and in the straight of Gibraltar

between Morocco, Algeria and Spain,

2322 were never found...

This film is dedicated

to all the Harragas lost at sea.

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