Mohamed Ben Attia Believes a Man Can Fly in Venice Film Festival’s ‘Behind the Mountains’
04.09.2023 - 14:05
/ variety.com
Marta Balaga Move over, Richard Donner. In “Behind the Mountains,” premiering in Venice’s Horizons section, Mohamed Ben Attia makes sure “you’ll believe a man can fly” once again. Although it might not be as graceful.
“I didn’t want him to be like a superhero or fly like Superman. He is floating, struggling with gravity,” he says about his protagonist Rafik, who gives up his entire life – and even ends up in jail – chasing an impossible dream. But there is one place where dreams come to life and he wants his son to experience it too.
The Tunisian director, also behind “Hedi” and “Dear Son,” was hesitant to play with supernatural elements at first. “I don’t have any technical background. I am not technical at all! But I’ve become obsessed with this man, who extracts himself from his community in such a radical way.
I kept seeing an image of someone running towards the edge. He jumps, and then starts to fly,” she says. “We were all a bit afraid.
Especially my producer Dora Bouchoucha Fourati, who kept asking: ‘But can he fly or not?! It’s impossible!’ It’s not a Marvel movie, that’s for sure, but cinema can be playful. It gives us hope that tomorrow will be completely different.” Ben Attia brought some of his own fears into the story, he says. He also recognized Rafik’s rage.
“Recently, we have all been going through very difficult times. But many people who read the script found it hard to empathize with him. He really behaves like a crazy person.” Consumed by violence, he destroys his office, kidnaps his child and ends up terrorizing another family while on the run.