Shatter Hassan (2001) User Reviews

Al Massad's concept is an extremely inventive

[majjjy-1 · 10/10 · 31 August 2002]

The film proceeds to chronicle the real life of a Moroccan flute player in Utrecht who goes by the same name. Hard drugs and homelessness have taken their toll on Hassan, who initially becomes abondoned by his wife and family and eventually loses control over himself. Hassan is unfortunately a living example of one of the tragic consequences of immigration.

Al Massad's concept is an extremely inventive and challenging one, pioneering a controversial issue within modern film making.

Magi Jonghart ,

Exquisite way of telling a story through the camera.

[bashafilm · 8/10 · 4 August 2002]

"It's different, and in a strange way very close to home. The film begins as an Arabic fairy tale that goes awry in the Netherlands when the invincible hero Shatter Hassan has become a nameless junkie. It is moving that the director (in a voice over and through the nostalgic images of a Dutch city scored with North-African music) projects his feelings of being lost in this fairy tale character. It finally becomes the story of the director trying to retrieve his lost childhood by attempting to come to terms with the sense of belonging nowhere. It is a story about being homeless in a city, being far away from home, having lost your own country, your culture, your roots, your identity.... The director, who comes from the Middle East, conceived, directed, shot, edited, financed, and produced this film solely through his own independent means and efforts, without the help of a film business network. I met him during the final stage of the post-production and was amazed with his passionate way of working and his exquisite way of telling a story through the camera."

Paul Bertram, script editor