Casablanca Calling 2014
Distributed by Women Make Movies, 115 W. 29th Street, Suite 1200,New York, NY, 10001; 212-925-0606
Produced by Hilary Durman
Directed by Rosa Rogers
DVD, color, 70 min.
High School - General Adult
Islam, Muslims, Women’s Rights
Date Entered: 08/13/2015
Reviewed by Alexander Rolfe, Technical Services Librarian, George Fox University, Newberg, ORIn 2006, the Moroccan government began hiring and training female chaplains, or morchidat. There are now 400, each one assigned to a mosque. This film follows three of them in various parts of the country, as they teach, counsel, and give advice.
These women clearly have a difficult road ahead, as they try to change a culture. “Religious scholars define Sharia law based on the Koran and the Prophet’s teachings, but these definitions need to be revised over time as society changes,” asserts one morchidat. She deals often with child marriage, and advises a woman not to beat or shout at her 14-year-old granddaughter for being depressed. It is obvious that girls and women have very little recourse; the morchidat often counsel girls to speak with their father, or write him a letter. The most powerful part of the film was watching one morchidat counsel girls in a school dormitory after one had committed suicide.
It’s an engrossing and upbeat film, but makes no prediction regarding the ultimate success of failure of this government initiative. Yet for now at least, many women, and some men, are receiving help and teaching that wasn’t available to them before.