Fans of short film look no further than Woke, the Studio 4 French drama now streaming on Amazon that debuted in 2017 in Europe.
Woke (Les Engages) breaks some new ground with its storyline. The series centers on Hicham (played by Mehdi Meskar), a handsome gay Muslim living in Lyon. At 22, he can no longer bear the closet. He strikes out on his own to find Thibaut (Éric Pucheu), a LGBT-rights activist whom he once almost kissed.
Thibaut lives his life in the open, spending his activist days at the LGBT center. He spends his recreational time hanging out at local bathhouses (hey, he’s French).
While Hicham longs to belong, the gender fluidity, celebratory sexuality that Thibaut personifies terrifies him.
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So do the radically different Thibaut and Hicham ever get together? No spoilers here, other than to hint that the story has more than a few dramatic twists that will leave you hanging on for more.
Woke streams on Amazon. Check out the trailer below:
Kangol
Looks interesting, though the storyline feels a bit shopworn.
BTW, there’s a great 2007 documentary about young gay/queer Muslim French and North Africans called A Jihad for Love. Among its stars is the Moroccan-French author Abdellah Taïa. His novel Salvation Army, which he turned into a film with the same name, has a plot not unlike this TV show, where a young gay Arab Muslim struggles with his sexuality, and then comes out and finds a white guy in liberal Geneva.
Taïa also stars in the 2001 film, The Road to Love, about a young gay Algerian-French guy who goes on a journey of discovery, and falls in love with a white French guy. Both films are worth seeing.
Juanjo
Oh look, Herr Shithead has an opinion. He doesn’t like a movie he hasn’t seen because it offends his preconceived notions. Everyone act surprised.
Heywood Jablowme
Kaiser, I’d have thought you’d approve of a movie where a young Muslim guy rejects Islam enough to embrace his homosexuality.
Or did the reference to gay bathhouses get your panties in a twist?
And where do you see a reference to “toxic masculinity”? (You’re putting it in quotes, yet.) Seems like some standard horny masculinity, but that’s about it.
You’re never happy, are you?
KaiserVonScheiss
@Heywood
It literally says ‘toxic masculinity’ in the headline.
Kangol
@KaiserVonScheiss, but surely you know how this site works. The goal is to provoke clicks. I’ve noticed that if there’s an article on Queerty’s main page featuring a brown-skinned man who’s not part of RuPaul’s drag race or not arguing on behalf of interracial relationships, the clicks are far and few between, so maybe consider this when you see a headline like the one above. But also, perhaps just look at the trailer before you make a preemptive judgment.
Kangol
That should say the “comments” are few and far between. (I have no idea how many click-throughs any article on here gets.)
Heywood Jablowme
Heh heh, guess you’re both right (Kaiser & Kangol). I was so puzzled by the reference to “toxic masculinity” that I went thru the article with the proverbial fine-toothed comb, and watched the trailer three times… but I missed it in the headline.
Apparently Queerty thinks a gay Muslim guy, who’s not openly gay enough in a Western country, is guilty of toxic masculinity? Although that seems rather un-Queerty-like, it’s a step in the right direction!
Heywood Jablowme
The white man IS living the better life because he’s openly gay and doesn’t live in fear of his homophobic family. Also he is living the better life because he is free to ignore religion (except, I guess, when religion is trying to kill him!).
“Each time a coward kills in the name of Allah it’s just terrible how islamaphobic the reaction is in the streets.” How would you prefer they react?
Hussain-TheCanadian
@Heywood Jablowme
How about they blame ISIS/Al-Quaeda or which ever crazy group the crime is being committed behalf of, and not the entire population of French Muslims, I mean this is 101 rationality and decency no?
P.S.
I’m going to look this series up, looks interesting.
tham
I’m starting to think…all of this is theater.
You make up posts, then you debate with yourselves.
It just seems, very cordinated.
tham
Wow, a lot of people have very similar ideas but speak very different.
I must listen…cause that’s what I should do….listen to comment sections.
maxalexander
Searched on prime, it’s a tv series, season one is up, didn’t find a short film