Homeless Moroccan children flee the streets of Casablanca for the Goutte d’Or slum in Paris, hoping to find a better life. But the street catches up with them and becomes their only refuge—the theatre of their dreams and their nightmares.
'Mother Street' offers us portraits of homeless Moroccan orphans. Some remain in Morocco, while others have managed to sneak into France. In Casablanca, we follow Ibrahim, Noureddine, Yassine, and Mohammed through the streets of the city. Since they were expelled from their homes, they have struggled with hunger, cold, predators, and the judgments of society. But their relationship to the street is special—like a mother, it has also educated, sheltered, fed, and protected them. Despite the lack of prospects, they have a common dream: to cross the Mediterranean to Europe and find a better life. In Paris, we find more Moroccan-born street children. Pursuing their ideal, they have migrated to France illegally, and live there as undocumented aliens. Their life in France is sometimes even harder than in Morocco. On this long and exhausting road, they start to envision a triumphant return home, where their relatives, absent at the beginning of the story, will welcome them with open arms. A successful act of revenge on life.
