In the absence of a year for the premiere and having seen only an official image of what it holds, the next thing about Christopher Nolan is already raising some controversy, although this time the reasons are completely extracinematographic. The filming of the film in the city of Dajla, in Morocco, already aroused certain protests a few weeks ago, and these are now increasing with a statement signed by a large number of Spanish artists who ask for transparency with the reasons to have chosen that place.
All against Nolan. Directors such as Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Benito Zambrano, Fernando Colomo and Icíar Bollaín and actors such as Javier Bardem, Juan Diego Botto, Carolina Yuste, Javier Gutiérrez, Nathalie Poza, Carlos Bardem, Guillermo Toledo, Alberto San Juan, Melanie Olivares or Luis Tosar have joined the aforementioned Manifesto of the International Festival of the International Festival of the Sahara Film against the recording of the film in this area of the African continent. The manifesto asks the producers of the film to “break their silence on why they chose the city of Dajla, occupied by Morocco, in the Western Sahara, as a place of filming of the movie scenes.”
Without consent. The manifesto explains the reason for the protest: to film “without the consent of the Saharawi people. The only consent he received came from the occupant force: Morocco.” The problem, according to the festival, is that “Nolan (…) may have contributed without knowing it to the repression of the people of the Western Sahara, helping to normalize the brutal occupation of Morocco.” And he continues: “Morocco has turned Dajla into a tourist center, as Netanyahu intends to do with Gaza, a place to practice kitesurf, cultural events (…), conferences, renewable energy projects used to make the occupation green, etc.”
The background of the conflict. The Western Sahara conflict originates in 1975, when Spain left its colonies, delivering the territory to Morocco and Mauritania instead of celebrating the self -determination referendum promised to the Saharawi people. Morocco launched the “Green March” that same 1975, an invasion of 350,000 civilians accompanied by military forces that occupied the Western Sahara, causing the Saharawi population to run massively into the desert and subsequently to the refugee camps of Tinduf, in Algeria.
During this escape, Moroccan aviation systematically bombarded civilians refugees with Napalm and white phosphorus in camps such as Um-Draiga, where they died between 2,000 and 3,000 Saharawi. 170,000 Saharawis have lived as refugees for almost 50 years, while the Polisario Front continues to claim the independence of the territory and the right to self -determination recognized by the United Nations, in a conflict that resumed militarily in 2020 after 29 years of high fire.
A laundering operation. The Moroccan government has been immersed in an intense international image washing strategy in relation to Western Sahara, focused on the normalization of occupation, economic and tourist promotion of the territory, and diplomatic and media manipulation. That is precisely what is attributed to Nolan from the statement that may be helping to be done, consciously or not. Much discussed lately it has been the massive invitation of influencers, travel journalists and creators of content from European countries to promote the occupied city of Dajla.
Nolan’s key role. Reda Benjelloun, from the Moroccan cinematographic center, told the medium media24 that the production of ‘La Odyssey’ has a vital importance for the city, since it is the first major Hollywood production that does. In a radically opposite position is the Ministry of Culture of the Polisario Front, the Saharawi nationalist group that seeks self -determination, and that issued a statement in which it affirmed that “this act constitutes a dangerous form of cultural normalization with the occupation, and an unusual exploitation of art and cinema to bleach the image of a colonial situation that is still imposed by force”
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