The Mother of All Lies

El Moudir strikes an impressive balance between rediscovering the past and unearthing the emotions packed away for decades.

Through her use of recreation, Asmae El Moudir suggests that the act of documentary filmmaking can turn historical truths into fiction, in which everyone becomes an active participant.

The delicate mix of handmade replicas and oral testimony brilliantly evokes the personal and collective trauma that stem from Morocco’s “Years of Lead” -- a period of state brutality under Hassan II’s dictatorial rule.

A staggering work of documentary filmmaking, Asmae El Moudir recreates her personal history and a tragic chapter in Morocco’s history with her family as witness.

“The Mother of All Lies” is an astonishing work whose maturity comes from El Moudir’s wide-eyed approach to her family history, where memory and history are quite literally reduced to playthings in order to process the unspeakable events they conjure up.

[An] intriguing, offbeat and personal documentary...

This is an astounding film... A commitment of an extraordinary level.

Moroccan filmmaker Asmae El Moudir’s bleak and utterly riveting documentary … uniquely bewitching&#59; the painful story is searingly human.

El Moudir recreates several versions of the past in an effort to understand both her family and country's history that have been lost due to fear and negligence, prompting us to question: how do we remember the past without proper proof or documentation?

Visually “The Mother of All Lies” is a riveting playground, but to appreciate it, you must be willing to read subtitles and navigate a narrative without it being easily accessible to outsiders. You will have to go with the flow even when you are lost.