The first takes place in Beirut in 1987 when Zozo (Imad Creidi) a young boy, is forced to decide to try and leave Lebanon to find his grandparents in Sweden. With his father and mother dead and his brother missing, Zozo sets out for the international airport on foot. On the way he meets a girl, Rita (Antoinette Turk), who tries to help him.
In the second chapter, Zozo makes his way to Sweden, where he is taken in by his grandmother (Yasmine Awad) and grandfather (Elias Gergi).
However, Zozo is subject to severe cultural conflict and is not, at first, at home in his new country.
The film begins in Beirut where Zozo, an 11-year-old boy, escapes a bombing by the Lebanese militia because his mother, Ward (Carmen Lebbos), sent him out on an errand. When he returns he finds his family dead.
They had all been planning to leave imminently to go together to Sweden. When his elder brother Dav (Jad Stephan) vanishes, Zozo feels he is the sole survivor of his nuclear family and so he sets out on his own.
He is chased by gunmen and hides in a dumpster.
He decides to walk to the airport to get on a plane to Stockholm as he has his ticket and passport rescued from the ruins of his apartment. Along the way he adopts a chicken (there is a bit of magic-realism here as they can talk to each other).
He also meets Rita along the way - she likes him and provides him with a temporary sanctuary. She wants to escape her bullying father by joining him on his journey.
He says: "Can I hold your hand?" Her father follows, but the chicken has to be left behind. They are caught at a roadblock and Zozo has a lot of explaining to do.
Eventually Zozo does get to Sweden, and has a lot more talking ahead of him. He discovers that his Arabic is not useful, and that he must go to school and learn Swedish.
His grandfather has his own problems, and convictions, like "Never be afraid to argue". He finds in Sweden that a pigeon can talk to him: "Do you speak Arabic?" He is able to finally release his tears for his lost family. In his new home his grandparents' bickering confuses him.
In school he has an adventure that gets him into trouble involving erasers that he steals and then uses to try and make friends. He learns to confront a school bully.
He finally makes a friend and learns to eat apples with salt. He has another mystical experience when his mother comes and talks to him - "I missed you!"
This is a fascinating movie, even though it stretches the viewer's credulity. It is both a serious and funny film, augmented by its talking birds. Perhaps, Josef Fare really experiences them too? One cannot deny the power of personal experience.Cinematically, the best scenes are when Zozo crosses war-torn Beirut. It is a dreamlike journey through devastation that is very convincing - a tragedy that is being repeated in Lebanon today.
How Zozo finally adjusts to living in Sweden is a more familiar coming-of-age tale, common to many immigrant stories across vastly different cultures and languages.
Zozo is one hour and 42 minutes long. It is in Arabic and Swedish with English subtitles.
This is writer and director Josef Fare's personal story, based on his own experiences as a youth. The cinematographer is Aril Wretblad.
The editors are Michael Leszczylowski and Kristin Grundstrom. The music is by Adam Norden. Movies today are highly globalised: Zozo is a Memfis Films Rights V (Sweden)/Zentropa Entertainments 5 (Denmark) Zozo /SigmaIII Films (UK) production in association with Film i Vast, Sveriges Television, Nordic Film and TV Fund, the Swedish Film Institute, the Danish Film Institute and in collaboration with Canal Plus in the UK.
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