They were “devoured by the wolf”, declares Olfa Hamrouni ominously in the opening seconds of Kaouther Ben Hania’s transfixing, Oscar-nominated documentary. She’s talking about her eldest teenage daughters, Ghofrane and Rahma, who in 2016 fled Tunisia to join Islamic State in Libya.
However, this isn’t a straightforward story of radicalisation. As Ben Hania paints a hugely intimate and frank portrait of sisterhood, motherhood and family – before and after the girls’ disappearance – you can’t help ponder a niggling question: were her daughters fed to the wolf in one way or another?
In the absence of the elder sisters, actors play them alongside younger daughters Eya and Tayssir in events from the family’s history, while another is employed to step in for Olfa if a scene proves emotionally “too much”. This might sound tricksy, but as soon as Olfa is introduced to the actor playing Ghofrane and becomes overwhelmed with tears, the conceit proves utterly effective.
From the moment Olfa recalls her childhood in a fatherless family of girls, where she had to beat off men trying to force their way into the home, this is a tale of women doing their utmost to stick together. And she’s a redoubtable character if ever there was one; on her wedding night, she beat the shit out of her husband and used his blood to fool the awaiting relatives that the marriage had been consummated.
She also made some questionable decisions (the second man in her life was a wildly reckless choice with devastating consequences) and during filming continues to reveal her faults. Tellingly and hilariously, the actress playing Olfa regularly berates her for things she says to her daughters.
While Olfa is the larger-than-life matriarch, it’s the vignettes with Eya, Tayssir and the two actor sisters that hit the tender, fragile sweet spots.
One minute Eya and Tayssir are teaching them how their sisters would walk with all the heart-breaking nostalgia of yearning for lost loved ones; the next the four girls are lounging on a sofa like genuine sisters. And the deeply personal stories they tell each other about their bodies as young Muslim women might be an eye-opener for Western viewers.
Ultimately, quite how and why Ghofrane and Rahma ended up in the jaws of the wolf is never fully answered. Have no doubt, men played their part. Despite that lack of resolution, it’s the laying bare and raw the intricacies of mother and sisters that truly touches to the core here.
In cinemas from March 1
107 mins, cert 15
