In November 2015, a staggeringly violent crime took place in the impoverished area of Mghila Mountain in Tunisia. A jihadist group attacked two young shepherds, killing one and forcing the survivor to carry a bloody message back to his family. The real-life case inspired Lotfi Achour’s harrowing drama “Red Path,” which played as part of the Meet the Neighbors competition at the Thessaloniki Film Festival.
“At first, I dismissed the idea of making a film based on this story, telling myself that I needed to let some time pass and my emotions calm down,” Achour told Variety. “When a year and a half later the second brother was murdered in similar circumstances, it brought back the need for me to talk about it because it was no longer an isolated crime but premeditated acts on the part of jihadists. From then on, I was obsessed with making this film.”
“Red Path” tells the gruesome story from the point of view of 14-year-old Ashraf (Ali Hleli), who has to deal with not only the trauma of seeing his cousin beheaded but the horrifying ordeal of having to bring his head back home as a warning to his family and community. The film blends a stark naturalist snapshot of rural Tunisia with twinges of magical realism to tell a pained coming-of-age story.
“What struck me first was the question of childhood in the face of such terrible violence,” said the director of his decision to center the film from the point of view of Ashraf. “What could have been going through Ashraf’s mind when he came down the mountain alone? I wasn’t interested in those who practiced the violence but in the consequences of it on a child.”
Focusing on the inner world of a child also made the style of the film clearer to Achour and his team. The director said a child’s understanding of death differs from that of an adult and “the boundaries between the real and the imaginary are often blurred and more fragile.”
“The film takes hold of Ashraf in the first moments and hours after his cousin’s death, so this death is not yet concrete for Ashraf or assimilated, far from it,” he added. “[His cousin’s] presence, his physical embodiment in Ashraf’s eyes, is therefore entirely plausible, like when you’ve just lost someone and you still feel their presence or smell or hear their voice.”
Achour, a Tunisian author, director and producer who has produced more than 25 theatrical plays and several shorts including Cannes competition entry “La laine sur le dos,” is greatly experienced with working with children and young actors. Casting for “Red Path” took almost a year and involved over 500 teenagers auditioning for the three main roles. The process took place exclusively in rural areas, mainly in secondary schools but also included children who had dropped out of school — unfortunately a common reality in rural Tunisia.
“Over several months, we toured the interior regions of Tunisia and held acting workshops in small groups of 20. Each workshop was followed by a selection. This long period was both a training in acting but also enabled me to grasp the theme of the film,” said Achour before adding that Hleli was one of the first boys they met and an “obvious choice for the whole team” from the get-go.
Achour is quick to emphasize that Hleli’s performance is not grounded on youthful spontaneity but the result of “months of preparation to build up his character,” going on to mention how the team had long rehearsal periods and shot the film in real sets, which enabled them to “arrive at the shoot knowing exactly what each of us had to do.” The film was shot in the Kef region, in northwest Tunisia and close to the Algerian border.
As for the parallel storyline involving a sweet budding romance between Ashraf and his friend Rahma, Achour said he wanted to “add a touch of hope and love between people to the film and to add complexity, too. The complexity of feelings at the age of adolescence and the awakening of a certain sensuality.”
“We found it interesting that when they lose their best friend, Rahma and Ashraf begin to fall in love as if to ease their grief and help them live in his memory. They’re so beautiful in these love scenes, that it made me want to magnify their beauty and that of their feelings even more.”
Speaking on the current state of Tunisian cinema, including Kaouther Ben Hania landing a historic two Oscar nominations in less than five years, Achour said he thinks the country is “in the midst of a wonderful period in our cinema because we are seeing the emergence of real individuals with their style.”
There are a few real auteurs, each pursuing their own universe that stands out from the others,” added the director. “This diversity is a reason for hope for me, even if it’s still difficult to make ambitious films.”