LOS ANGELES — In 2016, Olfa Hamrouni and her family made headlines after two of her daughters had run away from home to join the terrorist organization ISIL, also known as ISIS.
The Academy Award nominated documentary “Four Daughters,” directed by two-time Oscar nominee Kaouther Ben Hania, reconstructs the story of Olfa and her daughters while also examining how two of her daughters were radicalized.
While Olfa’s story was known because she had made television and radio appearances, Ben Hania was interested in the story about women, about a mother and about daughters. Despite not being happy about the journalistic treatment of her story, Ben Hania told Spectrum News she didn’t have to convince Olfa too much to make the film because she had already been telling the story of her daughters.
“She was saying all the time she was a horrible mother. Journalists also told her this and accused her. She told me, ‘I know I’ll be horrible in the movie.’ When she saw the movie she told me, ‘I’m not only horrible, but you also explain why I am acting like this,’ which is great for understanding the complexity of the character,” said Ben Hania. “She was really happy about the movie, although she is not painted in a very wonderful way. For her, she confessed her dark side. She is not hiding.”
The film takes a departure and sets itself apart from other documentaries in that Ben Hania used professional actors to reenact pivotal moments in the family's life.
“I wanted to dig deep in the past of this family. What was interesting to me was what was behind the headlines. When we do documentaries, the past is no longer available to film. You have this cliché of reenactment. If I start with this cliché, I have to hijack it. I don’t like reenactment, but as you can see in the movie, the reenactment part is very small,” she said.
Having actors reenact moments with the Olfa and her two daughters, Eya and Tayssir, allowed them to question, analyze, to discuss — the main idea being, Ben Hania says, to ask Olfa and her daughters to direct the actors and to play with them in order to bring those memories alive and to question those memories to understand what happened.
“The movie gave the possibility to Eya and Tayssir to talk. To have a voice. To speak with their mother and give the chance to also reflect on the past to understand some harmful mechanisms. When you see them in the movie kissing each other, their relationship became very close. It was emotionally very strong,” she said.
In Jan. 2023, Libya sentenced Rahma and Ghofrane to 16 years in prison.
Ben Hania tried to speak to them, but the government did not allow it. They have not seen the film, but Eya and Tayrssir have described the film to them, shot by shot.
What will resonate with the audience, Ben Hania says, will be the aspect of generational trauma, the mother-daughter relationships, the coming-of-age aspect of it.
“There are a lot of shared humanity in this movie and that’s why I think it is nominated for an Oscar,” she said.
“Four Daughters” is Ben Hania’s second Academy Award nomination. Her film “The Man Who Sold His Skin” was nominated for Best International Feature Film in 2021.
“Four Daughters” is playing at select theaters, and can also be purchased or rented on Prime Video and Apple TV.
Click the link above to watch the full interview.
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