Does PJD’s Movie Critique Sit well with Moroccans?

The Justice and Development Party (PJD) found a new way to take the center stage in Moroccan politics and go viral on social media. This time it chose the movie industry, more precisely the movie “Le bleu du Caftan”, produced by Nabil Ayouch’s wife Maryam Touzani. In its latest statement, the former ruling party branded the film as an attempt to normalize homosexuality.
The drama movie “Le Bleu du Caftan” won 10 awards, premiered in the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, and will represent Morocco and Africa in the 2023 Oscars shortlist in the “International Feature Film” category.
The daring and raw movie tells the story of a woman and her closeted gay husband, who runs a Caftan (Moroccan traditional Dress) store in the old Medina of Salé, and how the couple managed the issue secretly.
The PJD could not stop itself from taking aim at the movie’s producer under the pretext that the film tarnishes the principles of the Moroccan people, and introduces “gayness”, a foreign theme to the Moroccan culture that would alienate many.
This statement is lame attempt to re-establish the bonds of trust between the party and the Moroccan people, who gave up on them, a long time ago, following their unpopular policies during two mandates from 2011 to 2017. The party is trying to use cultural and religious common grounds with the Moroccan people to score some points, yet, it would seem that the reconciliatory move is falling on deaf ears.
Most Moroccans are now capable of discerning agendas capped with religiosity and genuine political discourses. This disenchantment was pretty apparent in the party’s steep fall in the last elections, dropping from 125 seats to just 13….