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ZOZO: A Personal Journey PDF Print E-mail

Producer: Anna Anthony | Screenplay: Josef Fares | Director: Josef Fares | Cinematography: Aril Wretblad | Editing: Michal Leszczylowski, Kristin Grundström | Music: Adam Nordén.

Principal Cast: Imad Creidi, Antoinette Turk, Elias Gergi, Carmen Lebbos, Viktor Axelsson, Charbel Iskandar, Yasmine Awad, Jad Stephan .

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Review by Jed Medina


Zozo is a 10-year old boy who goes to school and hangs out with his friends playing soccer in war-torn Lebanon. The year is 1987 and the civil war is raging on.

To escape from all the violence and chaos, his family decide to leave Beirut and emigrate to Sweden. His grandparents have already settled there and await them anxiously. But on the day the travel papers arrive, their house is shelled, killing everyone instantly, except Zozo and his older brother. As they escape from the bombing, they encounter a group of soldiers who begin firing at them. Running for their lives, his brother orders him to hide inside a garbage bin. That is the last he hears of him. With only his grandparents alive, he has to find his way to the airport and begin a new life...

Directed by Josef Fares (who was himself born in Beirut and emigrated to Sweden), Zozo is almost an autobiographical movie. Using a refreshing combination of fantasy, comedy and drama, Zozo takes a look at how a young boy's life is affected by the tragic death of his family, his struggles to move on, and the challenges he has to face in order to fit in a society so different and sometimes so hostile to him.


The stunning imagery seen in Zozo - from its brutal look at the civil war in Lebanon to its fantasy sequence (where Zozo's pet, a baby chicken talks to him) to the amusing take on school life in Sweden, provides its viewers with an unpredictable and extremely entertaining story. Especially worth mentioning is the young Lebanese girl Rita (Antoinette Turk) who befriends Zozo and gives him a chance to play and feel normal again.

Zozo, played by the amazing Imad Creidi, may be young but he has the tenacity and the courage to face the challenges life throws at him. Haunted by his tragic past, he always longs for security and a place of his own. His grandparents (Yasmine Awad and Elias Gergi), who are very old and who have accepted their fates as immigrants, try to be as supportive and as loving to Zozo as they possibly can. But it seems to be not enough for the young boy. In one of the most heartwrenching scenes, Zozo takes all the frames that show his family and put them inside the drawer. Seeing them is simply too painful to bear.

Adjusting to cultural and language barriers can be a daunting task for a young boy, but Zozo manages it in a joyful and sometimes comedic way. Befriending a young Swede, he finds he is no longer alone and is ready to face the bully who constantly taunts him at school.

A very personal film, Zozo is never political nor judgmental. It has its share of serious, tragic scenes but also carries a good mix of light comedy and fantasy. It remains with you even after the last reel, for there is so much truth and courage and heart and soul in Zozo that you find yourself wanting to watch it again...and again.

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