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Layla M. (2016) film review

Layla M. (2016) film review 

by Lukas Agelastos, 12 December 2020.

Layla M. is about a teenage Muslim girl growing up in Amsterdam who becomes radicalised.

Layla is smart but stubborn like many kids her age- and of fiery Moroccan background. She has a hard time with the increasing suspicion towards girls with headscarves and boys with beards that she witnesses every day. While her disappointment grows, her faith increases. Layla connects with a group of Muslims who fight for their religious views. Layla starts posting flyers and films online depicting atrocities committed against Muslims. She also becomes interested in the charismatic Abdel. When her brother, who has more moderate views than her, and she are arrested by the police, Layla resolves to leave home. She decides to marry Abdel and leave for Belgium to raise money and awareness for their cause and to start an adventure. After they narrowly dodge a raid by the police on a group of jihadists, they flee to the Middle East, where Layla finds a world that she is excited to be in at first, but ultimately confronts her with an unthinkable choice.

Mijke de Jong directs the actors' superbly well, drawing some stellar performances from the cast. Generally, the director has ensured the story is never tasteless or too predictable.


However, the major downfall of this movie is that we are talking about a coming-of-age movie rather than a strictly political film, as the subject would warrant. This is made clear as the director seems more interested in the character's arc, and is mostly concerned with tying up all loose ends with regards to our protagonist's development.
For example, in the second part of the film, Layla goes to visit a refugee camp close to the border to Syria, but we have the feeling that this subplot exists, in order for the viewer to realise that there is a turn in Layla’s feelings towards radical Islam. Instead of going on an adventure to fight with guns, she is persuaded that humanity can fight with goodwill and solidarity. This feels a little bit forced and it reminded me why films by the likes of the Dardenne brothers and Ken Loach are more realistic.

In our daily reality, there simply are many loose ends that aren’t tied up. Here, the director wants to explain every detail of the character's development. This teenager wants to go on a big mission, but the problem is that this mission could have been anything afflicting a teenager's life. It could have easily been boy trouble, it could have been problems at school, it could have been drug-related, you get the idea. It’s basically a coming of age story, but missing the political aspect.
I wish the director, who has co-written the screenplay, would have sent these kids to hell without return, to emphasise what she really wanted to say with the project, namely the risks of extremism and how kids in Europe are threatened by it given the wrong circumstances.

On the other hand, the beginning of the film has been so well handled, that it’s a study in how to write and direct the first act. We are immediately confronted with the protagonist's character and root for her, something which we find ourselves regretting as time goes by and we see how invested she is in extremism. Boy is the beginning good. It's like watching the Dardenne Brothers on steroids. Regrettably, the second half isn’t as satisfying as the first.
Nevertheless, there is never a moment where the director points her finger or crosses the line of making the dialogue too predictable.
The problem with this good film is that it has shifted its weight from its initial intention in an effort to become more palatable; the story deviates from its strong beginning to a textbook screenplay trying to hit all the right notes.

Available on Netflix.

Directed by: Mijke de Jong
Written by: Jan Eilander & Mijke de Jong
Stars: Nora El Koussour, Ilias Addab
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