The Unknown Saint

Alaa Eddine Aljem's 2019 Moroccan film begins with a thief leaving prison to collect the money he buried. The problem is that the hill where he buried it has become the shrine of an unknown saint with a village built around it; to get at the money he takes a job as its keeper. The humour is dry and delayed; the camera is static, the desert wide and the characters say little. Aljem is interested in how belief builds itself: nobody knows who the saint was, and everybody prays to him. A second line opens through the village doctor and villagers waiting for rain. The story does not progress, deliberately; for some viewers it will be too still. Who it's for: viewers who like Moroccan and North African cinema and dry humour. Who it's not for: anyone wanting incident, or who will find a slow pace wearing.