SAFSATA
- Hello!… Miss Amal?
- Yes!
- Do you remember me?... Omar!
- Omar? Yeah! Omar Naciri! - Exactly.
Can I join you?... Won’t bother you.
- No, please do. - Thanks.
- Really, nice meeting you after all these years.
- The pleasure’s mine.
- Tell me Omar, where have you been?
- In your opinion?... Tell me professor…
- Don’t call me professor, Call me Amal.
- Ok, Professor Amal!
- Have you ever gone back to our old school?
- Honestly, no. Since I came back from France, I’ve never been there.
I’ve been told it’s closed. Do you know why?
- So, would you like to visit?
- You used to come deliver your lecture, and leave quietly…
But me, I suffered deeply.
My thoughts! My doubts!…
Anxiety! Fear!
All this, because of you.
- Me? - Yes. You! Of course.
Because of you, my life’s has gone away! Lost!
- According to Nietzche,
" The life you live,..."
" Well, you’ve got to live it again,..."
" And start anew, it’s an endless process."
- That very day, you’ve sown fear in my mind.
Couldn’t eat or sleep anymore.
All my thinking focused on Nietzsche.
- Sorry! Couldn’t know you were easily influenced by Nietzsche.
- And Pascal’s quote… You used to repeat now and then.
« The last act is going to be sad! »...
- « Despite the beauty of the other acts of the comedy »...
« At the end, dust will cover the heads, »
«And the curtain will fall down, forever! »
- These words caused me pain and melancholy all my life.
- What did you expect? To live for the whole eternity? Come on!
- It was fear that haunted me! All my life through…
The mere idea of death haunted me…
It has been there, inside me, everywhere…
When I went to France for studies, it was there!
When back, it’s still there… Suffering, enduring all my life…
As if I had drunk poison! - A poison?
- Yes, the poison of philosophy!
No, it’s just that…
What matters is the death you always talked about.
Life is but a dream! That’s what you said, yes?
You said. Hein!
- « Life is but a dream! »
« And dreams are simply dreams »
- Many times I thought of putting an end to all this, to my life!
But I thought of Nietzsche and Pascal.
It was horrible!
I was in a tag of war, caught between Nietzsche and Pascal.
I’ve been suffering all my life...
All this, because of you.
- Me?
- Yes. You!
- Is this why you wanted me to come here?
- Exactly.
- You wana settle the matter with me?
- Exactly.
- Call the police!
To arrest me for having shaken a Muslim’s faith!
Or do justice by yourself, kill me! For having sown doubt in your mind.
- No police! There’s truth in what you say.
We won’t go till we settle the matter.
- Come on, stop your comedy! Let’s go!
- No, you’re not leaving! - Please, let me go!
- No way! - Let me go, please!
- Are you afraid of death?
Go back to your seat! Go back!
Not there! Over there!
Go!
- Are you crazy? Let’s go!
- Yes, I am crazy! Completely insane....
But whose fault is it? Who is to blame?
You.
I had been enjoying peace of mind,
Till you came! And doubt started.
I suffered from obsession with death.
And now… Look at me!
Stay there! You’re not going anywhere!
And now, give me back my innocence.
Want to become carefree again, stupid…
Like those people who don’t care about logic or philosophy.
I just wanna sleep peacefully,
- You’re already insane! What else are you looking for?
- You’re funny! Reason!
This is another philosophical issue!
Give me back my ignorance and stupidity. Go ahead!
- Don’t shout! Basically, you don‘t understand philosophy.
Sure! Philosophy teaches us a lot…
It helps us understand how to exist and how to die… But…
- No!
This I already know.
I wanna become like everybody,
Like all those people who work, sleep, get up, and eat,
Who fast, give charity and go to Mecca.
They think they’ll go to paradise!
- It‘s the opposite, philosophy is eye opening…
It helps us find the sense of existence; learn how to live and how to die.
Life and death go hand in hand.
I already explained this to you.
- " I can’t be afraid of death…"
" For, as long as I live, death doesn’t exist…"
" And when It comes, I won’t be here!"
" So, why afraid of death?"
" So, what do you think of the philosopher’s saying?"
- But I got nothing from that course,
I just wana become again as I used to be before taking that philosophy course.
- You can’t unlearn what you have learnt.
- What? No way back!
- No.
- So, what am I going to do now? How shall I face anxiety?
- Try to live life! Try to imagine Sisyphus happy, coexisting with his grief.
- Sisyphus!
- Omar! What are you doing? Are you crazy?
- Farewell! Bye Absurd world!
- I don’t understand this comedy!
- Here we are again in this room...
Where it all started... Anxiety and fear.
Look how it has become!
Of no use anymore…
No philosophy, no science, nothing.
The classroom is just like life.
It’s useless, life is useless.
- This is not our classroom. It’s the other one next door.
- They’re all the same.
Schools, Universities are all the same.
Please, I don’t wanna speak.
Once I start speaking, I won’t stop.
Like you, you didn’t stop speaking. We used to call you Miss "River".
"The overflowing river".
Miss. "River", the philosophy professor.
- Miss. "River"! Not kind of you.
Miss. "River"! I had just come from France...
Young and full of energy, eager to teach you.
I considered you like my kids.
You were like chicks waiting to be fed.
And you called me Miss. "River"?
I wonder where are they now?
- Finally, where do you think can they be?
Like me, good for nothing!
- Why are you saying that? I just taught philosophy.
- Ah! Philosophy! And in Classical Arabic please!
You didn’t allow us to use Moroccan dialect in class!
Although you studied in France.
I still remember that day.
- I request you to use only Classical Arabic in class,
Because it is the language of logic, thought and reason.
Arabic is beautiful, at least in class, no?
- Yes, beautiful! But I was Young!
First time I was introduced to philosophy!
First time I knew what logic meant! First time I started thinking!
Besides that, you imposed Classical Arabic? What‘s the use of this?
Had you taught us in our mother tongue, we wouldn’t have understood anything.
And now, I want to become stupid again, like all the others.
- I think you’re still playing your comedy; I got no time for that.
- Philosopher! O philosopher!
Hey! Escaping? No more argumentation?
You didn’t ask me about my job?
- What do you do?
- Philosophy professor, just like you!