Thestory is true and terrifying. That of Moroccan Faitha Mejjati aka Oum Adam, who ruled several women's homes with an iron fist during the reign of theIslamic State in Raqqa, Syria. Although she's never expressly named, she's the woman played by Lubna Azabal in Mareike Engelhardt 's debut feature Rabia.
Rabia will be released in cinemas from November 27, 2024.
Synopsis: Driven by the promise of a new life, Jessica, a 19-year-old Frenchwoman, leaves for Syria to join Daech. Arriving in Raqqa, she joins a house for future combatant wives and soon finds herself the prisoner of Madame, the charismatic director who runs the place with an iron fist. Inspired by true events.
The subject of indoctrinated young Europeans who go to Raqqa in search of what they believe to be a better life has been dealt with many times over the last ten years or so, in the form of films and series - with varying degrees of success. And indeed, the first part of Rabia recounts the idyllic installation of these pretty, carefree, oblivious little girls in this immense, dilapidated mansion.
The film reveals a little-documented aspect of the Islamic State - if not previously unseen: the inside of these houses for women destined to become the wives of Daesh fighters. And it's with amazement that we discover, in scenes far removed from the collective imagination, that these women are dressed in European style (when men aren't present), smoke cigarettes and even try on daring lingerie ensembles in the hope of winning over the heart of their future husbands.
But the death in battle of Jessica's promised husband, renamed Oum Rabia ("rage") on her arrival, spells the end of playtime: she's stuck in what is, in reality, a women's prison. The film shifts into an agonizing closed-door setting, as a perverse relationship develops between Madame and Jessica. Lubna Azabal is as preachy as she is domineering, as fanatical as she is cruel, and she brilliantly embodies the role of omniscient regent, driven by money and the desire to inflict pain.
And to explain, in the manner of theStanford experiment, the making of the torturer. After weeks of abuse and deprivation - and a stunning acting performance by Megan Northam- Jessica goes from victim to torturer.
Paced, harsh and gripping, Mareike Engelhardt's film ends with a glimmer of hope, with a plea (in the form of cards) for the defense of these indoctrinated women, still incarcerated today in the Al-Hol refugee camp.
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