‘Harka’ review: Dir. Lotfy Nathan (2023)

After unspooling at last year’s Cannes Film Festival under the ‘Un Certain Regard’ section, Lotfy Nathan’s Harka finally makes it to UK screens through Studio Soho. A relatively limited release, the impressive debut from Nathan is well worth seeking out for its slow-building but intense narrative and a stand-out performance from lead Adam Bessa.

Bessa plays the central role of Ali, a twenty-something living in the Tunisian city of Sidi Bouzid, a place far from the beaches and five-star hotels in tourist magnet Hammamet. Set in the present day, some ten years after the Arab Spring, the young man makes a small income from selling gas on the streets, an illegal vocation that is well known to police, though turned a blind eye to through pay-offs at the end of each working day. Ali wants a better life and seems to have got himself stuck in a rut. He’s estranged from his family – his father, brother, Skander (Khaled Brahem), and two sisters, Alyssa (Salima Maatoug) and teenager Sarra (Ikbal Harbi) – and has been for quite some time.

When news comes from home that his father has sadly passed away, his death brings him back to the family home where, just days after the funeral, Ali learns of a debt that his dad had before passing, one that has to be settled immediately – if not, the house in which they are all living will be repossessed. With his brother moving to the coast for a change in direction, it is up to Ali to put things right and keep a roof over the heads of his two sisters. He constantly keeps coming up against brick walls in search of regular employment so turns to a local businessman who has business with transporting bigger hauls of gas to the Lybian border, an illegal, extremely dangerous activity that just might solve his family’s financial problems.

Visually stunning with a great score from Eli Keszler – who contributed to the Uncut Gems soundtrack (percussion; and this is also drum-heavy) – the film draws the viewer in from the get-go through drip-fed, foreboding voice-over narration from one of the sisters – seemingly telling the story in retrospect. Nathan’s impressive script and flawless direction, along with the film’s lean 80-something-minute runtime ensure a constantly engrossing experience that will stay with you for days after viewing. The film is a human story, and also one that examines topics that are very much relatable in many different ways, but the narrative is extremely powerful, moving and extremely impactful with an unexpected gut-punch conclusion.

Adam Bessa walked away with the Best Actor in the ‘Un Certain Regard’ category at Cannes last year, and rightfully so. Nathan too has issued a huge calling card on the World Cinema stage with this brilliant piece of work, one that should be instantly top of every devoted cinephile’s watchlist.

Harka is released in UK cinemas on 5th May.