New Ways For Old Morocco (1948)

[Music] this is a sim story of a simple people but with a lesson for all mankind high up on 92 in the heart of what is now Morocco live the solutions one of the poorest most primitive of the Barbary tribes following the Berber custom the women's faces are uncovered but tattooed from childhood solution men wear a top knot of hair Berber legend has it that by this handle the Angel of Death will lift them to paradise they keep it ready coiled and protected under their turbo for the rest there Gemma burr their dress is basically the same as the rough Serge robe and the leather sandal that European peasants war throughout the Middle Ages primarily shepherds the solutions are good swordsman and excellent Rider and when necessary fierce warriors [Music] for centuries they had looked with envy from their barren mountain heights across the plain below the fertile valley obscura [Music] here at school lived a tribe of Sidi cyi a community of farmers in the communal olive grove no family owned more than one or two trees and the land itself was often owned by someone else conflicts between land and tree owners were common and discussions animated in these mud-walled houses the roof terrace but without chimneys the families of the city Syene lived a primitive domestic life of poor peasants the world over alive whether as little grain to grind and many mouths to feed here however is an outpost of our own civilization this fortress village and hundreds of others like it has stood for centuries against the air above the plains against the powerful Arab chieftains against the mountain people year after year through the centuries the bitter winter weather would force the solution down from Mount achoo into the pasturelands below and sometimes the migration would transform itself into a rave [Music] at skoura the alarm is sounded [Music] those women and children rush into the houses in 1929 France intervened to bring order the post was established commanding the valley and an officer of Native Affairs assigned to maintain the peace by treaty lands were assigned each tribe [Music] now the solution themselves have become part of that defense the instruments of modern warfare worn over the traditional striped yellow [Music] while others move to the cities to become part of the life that was transforming their ancient tribal ways [Music] and the little boys no longer wore their topknots the anticipation of a visit from the angel about [Music] for anti choked where the treaty had placed them this nomadic people were unable to grow the grain they needed with the new peace the number of mouths to feed was ever-increasing while the amount of kisra the flat round native bred grew less and less throughout Morocco grain is a vital problem even in the fertile plains that has become necessary to trade the old wood plow for the modern tractor to extend this knowledge to the natives numerous stools were opened actually modeled farms where peasants come to learn new methods of farming and gradually to handle the new machine [Music] and so at Storer one memorable day in march 1946 a delegation from CD Saeed journey to the fort in their Valley [Music] while from the mountain gallop the representatives of the solution tribe a great Jemma or assembly had been called to propose that the two tribes traditional enemies come together to improve collectively the uncultivated land in the plains the technician who will direct the project makes a proposition the new cleared land will be long half to the seedy side of the valley theoretically the owners and half will be ceded by the magazine the state to the solution tribes of the mountain and who are now without sufficient land to grow their front yeah cooter and gell come mr. Garre the representatives talk among themselves it is a project that would revolutionize the customs of centuries but then this meeting is itself a revolution the first time the two peoples have ever met without the sounding of an alarm it might work they agreed to try Nevada Terra [Music] it is one year later large tracts of land have already been cleared for the plow [Music] biaxin my fire for the ordinary blood but these thorny bushes have mammoth roots that run deep and must be chopped out completely trees fine old Cedars are felled by a single tug from the tractor [Music] but the clearing is not completed until every last stone has been carried away this is the work of the women barefooted taking tiny steps like worker hands the Berber women are always carrying words and a hearth water for the cookie now it is stone from the field [Music] thus the descendants of generations of nomadic tent dwellers have moved at last into the stone houses of civilization modest homes it is true but already little luxuries are theory the game board with different colored stones for the pieces coal makeup for the little girls these children learn the ways of civilization quickly in the center of the valley a suit has been built a supermarket the souk is a fair where each Friday the natives come to chat and to laugh together to buy in to sell to exchange both news and merchandise Raoh for the men's burnoose and slabs of rock salt brought by Caravan from the Sahara [Music] there is also a school here at noon the young scholars have their lunch together in the open air many of them have to walk miles each day to get here [Music] the teacher works closely with the area's technical director many of her pupils will soon become apprentices at the model home [Music] he can afford to be proud of these apprentices less than two years ago the young men now working these machines were shepherds on Mountie shoe and now at last the promised bread for Barberie this machine can sow an acre in an hour selected seed on virgin soil this old verb er repeats the sama motions of sewing can machinery really perform the miracle of growth [Music] the land is good but now a new problem each year the rain gauge shows less and less water water here is scarce and precious the women carry it from miles afar in goatskin bags [Music] and each spring when the drought has been prolonged possession of children parade before their priest carrying the bride of the rains whose magic can make the storms descend from the clouds but this year anguish prayer has been supplemented by a practical plan an irrigation canal will bring them their precious water from the river in the next Valley [Music] [Music] these men and women are paid by the day Fortin they know that they are really building for themselves that this will be their canal to protect their crops that they are blasting and drilling and digging against famine and one once the canal has been dug mortar and stone are needed they must be carried a thousand yard up the steep incline not by railroad not by wagon not even by mule pack again it is the Berber woman sure-footed as a mountain goat strong and infinitely patient [Music] all day long the women mount and descend in an unbroken line just as in ancient times their sisters in Egypt once toiled and at last at the head of the valley a jubilant crowd assembles and prepares the traditional sacrifice [Music] and now for the first time the life-giving water flows into their canal peasants and workers joined together in triumphant procession [Music] for this great occasion the tent of honor of the kayid has been brought down from the mountain here where famine is always on the horizon any festival becomes inevitably and primarily a feast the traditional Depot no speeches and a Berber banquet the nourishment of God says the proverb is eaten in silence in your bowls are not forgotten menti and then the dance [Music] the a deuce like the ancient baka now is danced by everyone all inspired by a common joy today these men and women dance because fresh water has been brought into their plane they dance because tomorrow and on our future tomorrow's there will be bread in abundance for all today they dance together many of the solution tribe and men of the tribe of sidi saeed traditional enemy [Music] for they have found as all can find that working together with their fellow men has bought them new prosperity has brought them peace [Music]