"Do you know what the birds say?" "Can you understand them?" "There was once a man who knew what the birds say." "The prophet Suleyman." "The birds brought him news from afar." "No one could travel that far at this time." "How many days lie between land and land?" "The philosophers say:" "500 years lie between land and land." "Between heaven and heaven?" "That, no man can know." "Rif Mountains/ North Morocco" "Film me my brother!" "The bill will come later." "The bill will come before the court ofjustice..." ""ln the name of the king"" "King Mohammed, who solves all problems." "Mohammed, who solves all problems." "Listen here!" "Be careful with what you say, Mustafa." "The mike hears everything!" "Our king, who solves all problems..." "God bless him." "God protect him!" "If only the Spanish were still here, then everything would be better." "That's what you think!" "If Juan Carlos were here, you wouldn't be able to grow these plants!" "To hell with him!" "You just can't trade in a friend for a better friend." "I wake up in the morning when it's still very cold." "Then I get my merchandise from the shop and drive to the bridge." "From there on, I go up the mountain." "When I get to a place, I begin to hoot the horn and the children start gathering around me." "Some trade the ice cream for money." "Those who haven't got money trade the ice cream for kif." "Those who haven't got anything, I just give them the ice cream for free." "1, 2... up to 30 ice creams a day, I just give away." "In the evening I sell the kif, pack up my things and call it a day." "From January to March you sow the seeds." "In April and May you must pull the weeds." "June, July, August is harvest time." "There's months where you have high costs 'cause you need people to work the fields." "You must buy the phosphate." "You need new equipment for the fieldwork." "Plus, you must buy hay, so the horse can work too." "This means you lose a lot of money in cultivation." "But if you do business the whole year round..." "In spring you do business, in the months that follow also..." "June, July, August, September..." "Every month a little bit - then you make money." "But if you do business only once or twice a year, then you just lose out." "16 kilo." "16..." "O.k., take it down now!" "You must work faster!" "I am!" " Yeah, it shows." "You do nothing to help your father." "I do!" "Your poor father, who has sweated and suffered for you." "So many sleepless nights 'cause of you..." "Sent my spirit to wander in the stars." "Look at Abdelkader, how he works!" "Yes, this is good work." "Made in Morocco." "Look how he's sitting here!" "Like the captain of the national team." "Careful..." "Hands off!" "I make 30-40 kilos." "Good quality." "Apart from this, you make 15-20 kilos of 2nd rate quality, 'cause when you prepare the plant you make top quality first, then the 2nd sieving, from which you get about half as much again." "So from 40 kilos oftop quality you get another 15 or 20 kilos of 2nd rate quality." "But this isn't very good." "Normal." "It's not a problem to get 400, 500 kilos here." "Cause a lot of people here in Ketama have a lot of hashish." "Here the taste is different..." "The meat and the flowers and all." "Taste of sweet." "Honey... same like sugar?" "It's different..." "It's like this with all things here." "And also for...?" "For the head." "Inside the mind." "If you smoke something you get your head moving." "You remember what is gone." "Where you've brought luck, where you've made mistakes." "You make accounts with yourself." "How many times you did good, how many times you did bad, with others." "Like court... make the court with yourself, before you begin the day." "Ifyou need to do something," "Make some joints or some pipes..." "And think about yourself, your job, what you are doing..." "This is our work..." "ls the hashish ready now?" "Yes, ready to cross the sea." "Just like us." "On to Europe." "We too...we want out!" "Fly across the sea onto the other shore." "Us too." "You're right there!" "On we go... next round!" "We might be illiterate, but still we want to get onto the other shore." "You know what...." "Once you're on the other side, it doesn't get any better!" "Then you try to adapt and get lost and lose track of your goal." "And in the end, you either go crazy or you get into big trouble." "I'm sure these glasses are good for the eyes." "You're right." "I'm sure they'll make your eyes stronger." "One day, I'll get a pair made!" "And at night, when I've problems with my eyes..." "Yeah exactly...then, you put them on!" "The first thing I'll buy when I get money is a pair of glasses like these!" "Exactly, then you just go into town and buy some..." "There's enough people with a degree, who don't have any work." "This means I've no chance of finding work." "That's the way it is." "It's the dream of anyone who wants to change his life." "Free himself from the misery, leave family problems behind and see life in the light of peace and love again." "And why not?" "But in order to do this...?" "You have to try your luck." "You can't just sit by a river with your arms folded." "You have to cast out your fishing rod." "To catch your luck...a fish..." "That's the way things are around here." "We keep trying over and over again..." "I think there's a lot of people here who think this way." "When we were in Tangier, we sat in a café by the window." "That's where the young ones sat and smoked, and watched the big ships heading for Europe..." "Waiting for a chance to smuggle themselves aboard, in any forbidden place." "If necessary, frozen like a fish in a refrigerator..." "I wish these people good luck." "But I also tell them that they must change their attitude." "The most important thing is a positive attitude!" "To search for a safe opportunity." "Always search..." "And to wait!" "Never give up!" "Wait!" "Despite all the obstacles!" "And he who stands before a door will one day try to get in!" "Do the rest later by hand!" "No!" "I will thresh all this with the sticks!" "Thresh it first and then do the rest by hand!" "Real powder isn't made by hand!" "You thresh it and then the powder comes out from underneath it!" "In the name of God!" "Do you know this?" "It's super!" "Best quality!" "First sieving." "And this is 2nd rate quality." "Best 2nd rate quality." "And this is 3rd rate quality." "The third one is called 'zero.'" "And this is zero thinned down for business." "This will blow your brain." "You smoke it... it blows your brain." "This is dangerous hashish." "Ahmed, this is powder." "Real powder." "I swear by God: this is powder!" "Put that back!" "It's not very much." "Give me a light so I can press it together!" "Do you have a match?" "You see what fire can do!" "It's getting harder!" "It's nothing special, though..." "For good hashish you take 100kg of plants and get about 1 kg." "Not more." "900g...1 100g." "Good quality." "But ifyou are producing for normal trade, not so good, that is, then you make 2 kilos, 3 kilos from 100 kilos of plant." "It's pressed." "You heat up the extractor over the fire and press." "But this isn't good quality." "Good quality isn't pressed." "So why do you..." "Isn't this good or what?" "This here isn't good." "I'm throwing this away over there." "It's useless." "This is 3rd, 4th rate quality, there's no more oil in it." "This isn't good to smoke." "There are some who want this." "For export." "There's a business for export hashish." "This is export." "Some people want export..." "But if you want the best hashish, you get the best hashish." "This is for people who want normal hashish." "Cheap." "Not expensive!" "Here: the best quality..." "Chocolate." "You know chocolate?" "The best quality to smoke." "For the head." "When I smoke this, everything just works as if on wheels!" "Look..." "Film this, the best hashish." "Enough now!" "Here, hide this!" "But make sure the bag is properly closed and placed correctly on the shelf." "Tangier-Spain..." "Tarifa!" "Let me see!" "No, I want to see this!" "I'll roll one." "Well" " Not good?" "Weapon!" "Jail!" "Small business is only made within Morocco." "5 kilo, 10 kilo, up to 20 kilo." "Someone will bring it from here to Agadir, Essaouira, Fez, Tangier, Oujda..." "He'll transport it all by foot." "No controls, no roadblocks, no car." "This is the small business." "People of the big business buy 200 kilos, 500, a ton..." "For the road, they take a specially prepared car." "Even when the police search, they don't find a thing." "Cause the smugglers have prepared a good hiding place." "And when the hashish goes to Europe, they transport it in small boats, sometimes even in big ships... in with the tomato and olive transport..." "There's many ways." "So with a big ship you can take the hashish directly from here to France." "It's really hot today!" "Here in Morocco it's no problem to do big business." "Big business is no problem." "Ifyou make small business, then you have problems!" "Cause if the police catch you - small business, little money- off to jail!" "But ifyou make big business and you get caught by the police, you just pay and then you're free to go." "No jail." "Are there many here that have been to jail?" "Yes." "Many many!" "One year there was a raid." "They caught everyone who was in the business." "They got 4, 5, up to 10 years of jail." "Some are still in jail. 10 years ofjail..." "That's the danger." "Someone who did small business?" "No, for example, someone who did big business, but who didn't know how to work." "Talked too much?" "Yes, he bought a house in the city." "Lived in the city." "Drove a good car." "The police see him..." "How did he manage to do that?" "Do you understand?" "People talked about his work..." "How did he manage to do that?" "Good car, lots of money..." "Then they caught him." "But the normal people from here don't live in the city." "They build their houses here." "Cause to do business, you must live in the mountains." "Long time ago, my grandfather used to live from kif..." "And the work my grandfather used to do, my father does now." "It's always the same work..." "To work the fields and harvest kif, make hashish and try to sell it." "That's his profession." "I don't like this work and am trying for a better future." "I'm finishing high school in Fez and have chosen the field of electronics" "in order to have a better future... and to be independent." "I don't want to work in the trade of my father and grandfather and all the men of my country." "I hope that after I graduate I will find work in Morocco." "If not, then I'll go to Europe!" "Before here, it came from Lebanon..." "Before from Pakistan, before from Turkey..." "I've seen the material from Turkey and Lebanon." "I've seen it with someone from Berlin, some people from Frankfurt." "I've said it to you before:" "it's all over the world." "But it's not a problem for the body." "The doctors have found out it is medicine." "It's coming back now." "It's medicine." "It's not drugs." "It's medicine." "If someone is crazy and he smokes, he gets quiet." "Speaks normal." "If he stands up, he sits down." "If you speak with him, he gives you the right answer." "How long has kif been here?" "Oh, long time." "800 years." "824 years." "I need a knife!" "You weakling!" "No strength in your hands?" "You think you can do better?" "You're dumb!" "You've got a screw loose!" "Are you taking it seriously?" "Poor Aissa, did I insult you?" "We've always been a good team, haven't we?" "Yeah, I always work and you just laze about!" " Exactly!" "I can do without you!" "After all, I was the one who taught you this work!" "You really think so?" "At the beginning you didn't have a clue!" "Yeah, yeah, you're right!" "On his very first day, he worked with me, right chief?" "Everyone said: " The guy's useless!"" "Oh yeah?" "Useless, huh?" "You just watch out, you..." "I promise, chief, we'll settle things later!" "Yeah, yeah, later!" "No, tonight, you son of a bitch." "Yeah?" "Yeah, you'll see." "When we go down tonight, I'll wring you neck!" "Tonight, you idiot!" "Ok, ok, but now we work!" "I'm talking to you, you donkey!" "Are you going to work now, or are you going to drive me crazy?" "You heard what he said, chief!" "Yeah chief, you can always kick us out!" "Everyone's listening and they know who's right!" "Yeah, everyone's listening!" "If you're going to keep on staring like that..." "Abdelkader, go away!" "Just sit down!" "First, finish work, then you can settle things." "Yeah chief, I swear I will!" "The guy's sick anyway." "You know the story with my brother..." "Even him, I almost beat to death." "Now this guy comes along and tries to take the piss out of me." "I tried to stay calm." "That's enough, now!" "Abdelkader, get up!" "Just go, please!" "Go somewhere else!" "Ok, brother." "I'm going." "You pay to Malaysia and stop over in Europe." "In Amsterdam..." "Frankfurt... the plane makes a stopover." "Here, there are people who forge papers and who get you papers from another country." "Others pay a lawyer and say they've problems and that they can't get back." "To get one step ahead." "To get in." "There's lots of police at the airport, so you have to be clever..." "A lawyer... "I've got problems"..." "There's many ways of getting asylum in Germany or Holland." "And the other way, the most dangerous, is to take a small boat for 30 or 25 people..." "Young people, who either drown or they don't." "Depends..." "You can't count on the sea." "You sit there herded together and you have to count on your luck." "Even if it means your life." "To me, it's too dangerous." "That's why I wanted to take a plane in May." "It's not possible here, so I drove to Tunisia." "But there - the same policy." "Cause all North Africans have the same tricks to get across." "So I drove to Libya to take a ship to Turkey." "Cause Turkey is the gateway to Europe but from the other side." "From the east." "I paid for a train ticket to Sofia." "And at the border they wanted my money." "The Turkish police." "Even though I had the right to leave their country." "There's no visa." "So I went back to the next border town to Bulgaria." "It's called Edirne." "And from there, I went on to Greece illegally over the border river." "I went on 'till they caught me at a place called Ostia." "From Greece I then went back to Turkey illegally." "Cause the Turkish don't want any people from..." "Doesn't matter where from:" "Iraqis, Egyptians, a lot from Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Albania." "120 men, 4 days in one room." "No light, no food..." "In the night, the Greek military take us to the border river." "Look through their binoculars..." "The Turkish drink alcohol and leave their guard." "The Greek observe them." "Afar from a motorboat." "They take 30 or 25 people and drop them off on the other side of the river." "Now the problem is ifyou get caught by the Turkish." "Without l.D. Moroccan passport costs 500 dollars." "Ifyou're wearing good trousers, they'll take all." "They're big thieves." "They beat, they kill." "The Greeks too, they've beaten up many people." "They stole their money." "1000 dollars." "From an Egyptian without a passport." "Some had their shoes ripped off." "New trainers." "Air Max or Adidas." "Stolen by the Greek and Turkish military." "So I escaped from the military zone at night." "By foot almost 60, 70 km in a foreign country." "In a small town I caught the train back to Istanbul and I returned to Morocco." "I had no more money, it wasn't a life." "I lost 2500 Dirhams in 10 days." "So I went back." "And, if God wants it, I'll marry a German woman." "And work with the family in Germany." "That's all I have to say." "Thank you for letting me speak in the name ofthe Maghreb youth." "Not just for Morocco." "For the entire Maghreb youth." "If I marry in Germany, I'll send you all an invitation so that you can celebrate with us." "I'll do it..." "I swear!" "Here, try this!" "Isn't good quality!" "You really screwed up!" "You should have pressed it harder!" "This is too soft!" "Ah, bullshit..." "This is real good quality!" "I swear to you, this is nothing!" "lt is." "It's good!" "I could tell when I was crumbling it." "It's nothing." "Not top-quality!" "Have you got 200 Dirhams for me?" "Not at the moment!" "Is it ready?" "Go and get another pot!" "Why did you stop smoking?" "I stopped 'cause I was smoking a lot for a long time." "I started at 12 or 14." "I'm almost 50 now, and I've spent more than half of my life smoking." "For 36 or 38 years - now I've decided to stop." "When I smoked, I wasn't feeling well." "I couldn't climb the mountains, wasn't good on foot, couldn't work..." "Now that I've stopped, everything's better." "And what do you tell your children?" "I've asked them not to smoke, cause when they smoke, they waste their money and their health." "The others don't work and just hang around." "They only think about smoking and drinking wine." "I don't like hashish or wine." "That's the difference between me and the other people from around here." "Have you honestly never tried hashish?" "No." "I've never smoked and never drunk." "My parents have always told me to keep away from it." "It's not good." "It's dangerous." "When you smoke hashish you can't study or learn." "You think about other things." "I hope I can go on studying, get a decent job and not end up like the others around here." "They have no future." "You source of life, you saviour, you merciful one..." "Our days are hard, the drink is bitter..." "Help us, show us the way and the destination..." "Give us strength and open the gates..." "Dear great God..." "God who forgives and who can read our desires..." "You know my troubles..." "I open my heart to you, so that my heart can be set free..." "You source of life, you saviour, you merciful one..." "Our days are hard, the drink is bitter..." "Help us, show us the way and the destination..." "Give us strength and open the gates..." "Dear great God..." "God who forgives and who can read our desires..." "You know my troubles..." "I open my heart to you, so that my heart can be set free..." "Telephone." "Portable of flies." "Birds..." "You know what they say, the birds?" "Can you understand?" "There was a man who knew it." "Suleyman." "The Prophet Suleyman." "He had the gift of God." "He knew what the birds said." "And the animals on the earth." "Birds brought him news from far away." "No one could travel that far at this time." "Some can move just inside their own land." "Some can move inside the world." "Some have the right to move in the world." "Some have to stop at a place...at a cut." "Some, their life's free." "Some, their life is not free." "Like animals." "He who is free is the contact." "These are the people who make the contact in all the world." "Like you." "Not like Africans." "Africans: visa!" "No visa?" "Tough..." "You must build an idea." "Something new for all." "One in one way, the other in another way." "Hand in hand we can move." "A lot of things to work on..." "Ifyou find money, you don't need it?" "If you have money, you don't need it?" "Of course you need it." "If you haven't, you can't move." "What makes a bird like a bird?" "Money is a bird." "Wings of a bird." "They fly." "Here, just smoke a pipe, then you'll understand..." "Ripped by zombino@vobsub.resync"