The Sea Is Behind 2014

In a world devoid of color, Tarek, a desperate and disheartened young dancer, finds himself exploited by his father, Hassan Ben Badida, who forces him to perform in women’s costumes atop a horse-drawn cart at popular festivities. Society quickly brands him as sexually deviant, subjecting him to relentless harassment.

From the opening moments, Tarek endures senseless violence: he sits in a café, bleeding, his blood blending with a cup of milk. Soon after, he is arrested on charges of perversion, faced with a brutal interrogation packed with insinuations and psychological torment. Despite his repeated denials, the surrounding evidence feels unshakable. Why does he wear makeup? Why does he dance like a woman before a frenzied crowd on a horse-drawn cart? The horse that once carried him is old and near death, unable to pull the cart any longer, leaving the father teary and heartbroken.

Tarek feels trapped—by a painful past, a constricting present, and perhaps an uncertain future. He is imprisoned in a merciless homeland where the oppressive police apparatus tortures bodies, but first aims to wound the soul with humiliation. The only person who offers him any real sympathy is a police officer who has himself endured unimaginable losses—having killed his own children and forcibly married his wife. This officer knows that Tarek is not what they accuse him of being, yet he is powerless to help. All he can do is offer small gestures of comfort, wiping away Tarek’s tears. Even with authority and a history of persecuting those who seek the sea and open spaces, he is defeated—overcome by weakness, helplessness, and the crushing weight of his own suffering. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that he too is a victim of a hollow, oppressive system—one that manufactures killers against their will, turning people into soulless machines haunted by their own anguish.

Consumed by the desire for revenge, Tarek resolves to end the officer’s life. He grips the pistol and aims, but his finger refuses to pull the trigger. He retreats to a world where people move yet feel lifeless, a landscape painted in black and white.

When both his closest friend and his father’s horse die on the same day, Tarek realizes that his world will never reclaim its colors unless he makes a bold choice. He turns away from society and toward the sea—echoing Tariq ibn Ziyad’s historic crossing into Andalusia. He follows in the footsteps of those who drowned before him, seeking the sea’s embracing waves, and only then does his world begin to reclaim its lost colors.