For Bread Alone
Filmfest 2006

FOR BREAD ALONE is based on the autobiographical novel by Mohamed Choukri and tells the story of a nightmarish childhood in 1950s Morocco (abject poverty, an abusive, alcoholic father, no schooling). He grows up fast, becomes a thief and smuggler with ties to Tangier’s underworld and a penchant for bordellos. In the meantime, anti-colonial demonstrations are sweeping the country. At the age of twenty, during a round-up, he is picked up and put in prison. In jail he sees a man intent on writing a poem on the wall of his cell. This changes Mohamed's life. He decides to free himself from an even greater poverty, that of ignorance and illiteracy. He then becomes a primary school teacher to help children take control of their lives.