Life in Molenbeek is not easy. The young people who live in the Muslim quarter of Brussels are Belgian nationals, but are also victims of unemployment, discrimination and lack of opportunities. The Islamic State knows this and takes advantage of it to provide itself with soldiers, cannon fodder. Molenbeek is teeming with recruiters, unscrupulous men who, with false promises, trick local boys into joining the jihad.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah know that reality and have brought it to the big screen in Rebel, a crude film that travels to the hell of the Islamic State. The film, which went through the Cannes Film Festival last year and which won the Best Film award at the recent BCN Film Fest, arrives today on Spanish screens.
Kamal is one of those youngsters who has not quite found his way out of Molenbeek despite the affection of his mother, Leïla, and his little brother, Nassim. When he starts having problems with the police, Kamal travels to Syria and joins the Islamic State in Raqqa. There the life of the people does not matter at all. And that of women, less than nothing.
The organization forces Kamal to commit outright atrocities: to kill, kidnap, torture and rape. The Islamic State has retained a group of women and sells them in the market to the highest bidder. He buys one for Kamal, who turns out to be a doctor. Despite initial distrust, Kamal, played by Aboubakr Bensaihi, manages to help the girl, because the boy still has some remains of humanity that barbarism has not managed to destroy.
Meanwhile, in Brussels, the jihad recruiters try to seduce little Nassim, only 13 years old. His mother, played by Lubna Azabal in a remarkable new interpretation, tries to stop him, but the situation gets out of hand. Nassim ends up in Raqqa as his brother and Leïla embarks on a dangerous and desperate journey to Syria to try to save at least the youngest of her children.
