Omar Rammal / Grand Huit Films
In “Rabia,” Megan Northam plays Jessica, a young French woman who falls under the influence of “Madame,” played by Lubna Azabal.
CINEMA – She is one of those villains who makes the blood run cold before she even appears on the screen. But the fear it creates is very real, even outside of dark rooms. The movie Rabiareleased this Wednesday, November 27, tells the story of a young French woman who left Syria join Daesh in 2014. Once she arrived in Raqqa, she found herself under the influence of “Madame”, the director of a house for future wives of fighters.
Mareike Engelhardt’s first film tackles the subject (already seen and seen again) of the French who left to wage jihad. Actress Megan Northam, revealed in the series Greek saladplays Jessica, 19, converted to Islam and ready to do anything to change her life. But more than the motivations that pushed hundreds of young people to leave France for Daesh, Rabia explores a little-known aspect of jihadism: the submission of women by women, put to work in the “madafas”.
Under the yoke of the Islamic State, which controls parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014, widows and single foreign women are housed in these houses while waiting to be married to a fighter. After finding a man online who wants them both as wives, young Jessica and her friend Laïla (Natacha Krief) leave the Paris region for madafa 66.
The “madafas”, hidden prisons of Daesh
It is in this building in the heart of Raqqa, which really existed, that the majority of the film takes place, behind closed doors. Mareike Engelhardt imagines the place – no madafa having already been photographed – accurately transcribed “the strange amalgamation between prison, sect, brothel and youth hostel”as its production notes explain. For the director, whose grandparents were part of the SS, the madafas are comparable to the “Lebensborn”, the Nazi nurseries.
Future ISIS wives must be virgins, obedient to their husbands and ready to give birth to “as many children as Allah wishes” with the aim of making them future soldiers. In full burqa as soon as they set foot outside, the atmosphere inside the madafa is nevertheless very Western. The rare moments of lightness in Rabia show the young women in jeans, with their hair down, exchanging sweets, becoming friends by nationality and complimenting each other on their new lingerie, bought for their future husbands.
But the summer camp aspect only lasts for a while. In the basement, Yazidi slaves do the laundry, while young single people speed date with Islamic State soldiers, who have come to choose, and sometimes “test” a wife. The slightest opposition can lead to torture and death threats from “Madame”, who rules this sordid ecosystem with an iron fist.
The true story of Fatiha Mejjati
At the start of the film, his shadow prowls the dormitory where the young women are crowded. But it is with her face uncovered, in her modern office, that she is most terrifying. Brilliantly played by Belgian actress Lubna Azabal, with sadistic calm, Madame takes possession of their lives, starting with their passport, their phone, then their identity by giving them a new name, and even their body with ” virginity tests “.
Omar Rammal / Grand Huit Films
The “Madame” of the film “Rabia” is inspired by Fatiha Mejjati, nicknamed Oud Adam or the “Black Widow of Al-Qaeda”.
This character is directly inspired by the Moroccan Fatiha Mejjati, who called herself Oud Adam. Under the caliphate proclaimed in Syria, she led several houses including Madafa 66, the worst according to testimonies collected by the independent media Middle East Eye in 2020. However, nothing predisposed Fatiha Mejjati to becoming an executioner in the service of Daesh.
After a privileged youth in Casablanca and studying law, she became radicalized, taking with her her husband, Abdelkrim Mejjati. With their two children, they joined Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in the early 2000s. Abdelkrim Mejjati is said to have coordinated the attacks in Casablanca in 2003, those in Madrid in 2004 then in London in 2005. He was shot dead in April 2005, with his 11 year old son.
Following their death, the now “Black Widow of Al-Qaeda” returned to Casablanca with her last son, Ilyas. In 2008, in an interview with Parisianshe warned France of being “ punished for her allegiance to America”. The following year, when she was the subject of a report by 66 Minutes on M6she was still living in Morocco, under surveillance. She then joined the ranks of Daesh in 2014 and even led the al-Khansa brigade, a women’s militia, before taking care of madafas.
Rabia is inspired by real testimonies
Described as dangerously intelligent and thirsty for power, Oud Adam made life hell for many young women locked in these houses. The dissidents were “re-educated”, like the main character of Rabia.
Rabia ends in October 2017 while Raqqa is under bombs, 80% destroyed by airstrikes by the International Coalition. But the story didn’t end there. The territorial fall of Daesh has left thousands of jihadists’ wives in suspense. With their children, they pile into the Al-Hol camp in Syria, open-air prison for Islamic State families.
Some hope to be repatriated to France, others have been and are now awaiting their trial. Fatiha Mejjati managed to escape from Al-Hol in June 2020, according to information from the Swedish daily Expressen and she is still on the run. The shadow of the “Black Widow” continues to loom.
Also see on HuffPost :