Hood Witch review

By Terry Sherwood

Forget all about the nose-wiggling Samantha Stevens played by Elizabeth Montgomery for years on the subversive comedy TV series Bewitched.  Saïd Belktibia’s Hood Witch is a crafted story of social commentary sprinkling in the plight of many in immigrant communities who still adhere to the ways of the old country. Lovely actors, night scenes and honest folk horror about in this to cause you to ‘ Bubble Bubble toil and trouble.

The picture opens spectacularly was Nour, (Golshifteh Farahani) is a woman going through security at an airport and is stopped for a check.   She gets repeated commands to remove her dress by female security in Stage Two search only to discover that she is crawling with rare animals in various baggies strapped to her clothes.

 Nour provides animals for the local mystics and witches that still exist in one form or another in many communities in this case a Muslim community near Paris. Both she and her son Amine (Amine Zariouhi), dispense charms, and arcane knowledge plus take care of the creatures. Nour wants a better life for herself and her child so she wants to go online so she can be a digital witch and market to more people.

Factor in Nour’s divorce from her husband, Dylan (Jérémy Ferrari), a man who not only disrespects women but firmly believes that their son would be better off in his care. Dylan shorts Nour on child support payments and physically threatens her when she comes to his Driving School office to confront him. 

On a walk, Amine meets his friend Kevin (Mathieu Espagnet), a troubled kid prone to fits who lives with his father Jules (Denis Lavant). To relieve some of the torment that Kevin is suffering, which is thought to be a possession, Nour visits but it doesn’t work.  As she is standing outside Kevin’s body hits the concrete beside her.  Jules shouts from the open window blaming Nour triggering a face-paced chase by the Muslim community on Nour to bring her to justice. When her son is snatched from her by pursuers who had seen her on Instagram – she’s become a social media villain, thanks to local religious leaders. Hood Witch is about a single mother in a community that seems unwelcoming ultimately a Tragic story for all as many seem doomed.

Hood Witch screened as part of The Overlook Film Festival 2024.