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  • Neither Allah, Nor Master! 2011. Original Title: Ni Allah, Ni Maïtre! (Laïcité, Inch’Allah!)
  • Sheila Petty
Nadia El Fani. Neither Allah, Nor Master! 2011. Original Title: Ni Allah, Ni Maïtre! (Laïcité, Inch’Allah!). Tunisia and France. French and Arabic, with English subtitles. 71 min. Icarus Films. $348.00.

The official subject of Neither Allah, Nor Master!, directed by the activist film-maker Nadia El Fani, is Ramadan festivities in Tunisia. The filmmaker’s apparent goal, however, was to uncover “Ramadan resistance,” freedom of speech, democracy, and secularism before and after the fall of Ben Ali. The opening shots establish the tone and atmosphere of the film: extreme long shots of a very beautiful sunset over the Tunisian ocean are juxtaposed with chanting words, “the people will triumph.” The peaceful landscape clashes with the fervor and content of the words, suggesting that a debate will ensue. Indeed, such a debate frames the rest of the documentary, and El Fani, who is known for her “cinema of debate,” is on a quest for a secular Tunisian state which she believes begins with a secular constitution.

Near the beginning of the documentary, footage of a pro-secularism rally is punctuated with words from a song, “I am free and my speech is free,” and clashes with shots of a parade of Islamists who chant “Our constitution is the Koran!”—thus underscoring the widespread confusion between state law and Islamic religious doctrine. In voiceover, El Fani declares herself to be “Catholic through my mother, Muslim through my father, and atheist by the grace of God.” She refuses to accept that religion should govern Tunisians’ everyday lives and relationships. And so she travels around Tunis introducing the viewer to Tunisians at work, in cafes or restaurants, at home, in the streets, at the beach, and in shops and markets. Many of those interviewed and speaking directly to the camera are women, shown in their own homes and not afraid to speak their minds about how much they have to lose in the current system as they lament that Tunisia was once considered the most progressive of all Arab-Muslim countries. [End Page 193]

It is August 2010 and on television the Grand Mufti declares that Ramadan will begin on the 11th. El Fani films people lined up at liquor kiosks hoping to stock up, since no liquor will be sold for a whole month. Men in cafes turn away from the camera—they don’t want to be filmed breaking the fast. In a restaurant where El Fani is drinking beer, waiters believe they can serve only non-Arabs alcohol during Ramadan and pretend to believe that El Fani is French. The rule, states El Fani, is that if you want to eat or drink you must hide and lead a sort of double life. A gardener interviewed affirms that, given his work, it is impossible to fast—he would die after two days. El Fani repeatedly states that Tunisian law does not forbid breaking the fast, only religion does. In an archival footage interview Habib Bourguiba, president of Tunisia from 1957 to 1987, promises equal rights for Muslims, Jews, and Christians, but the current intolerance to anything non-Muslim is palpable throughout the country. The documentary ends with scenes of a debate on secularism and consensus with one of the elderly male panelists declaring that his dream is the elimination of Article 1 of the Constitution and that there will never be any article referencing Islam. The screen fades to black with red letters scrawled, “This is only the beginning. . . . ”

Although El Fani is clearly pro-secularism, she provides a variety of viewpoints for the spectator to consider. This clashing structure, whereby opposing viewpoints are presented, is akin to Soviet collision montage, and it pushes the narrative forward, creating a space for the spectator to ponder the information provided and ultimately form her or his own opinions—a clever strategy on the part of a filmmaker who has declared that she always makes provocative films. (See, for example, her first fiction feature, Bedwin Hacker [2003], in which a female hacker broadcasts political messages over the Internet from a...

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