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Ali,
Omar, Kouka and Boubker have spent years living on the streets of Casablanca.
Every day, these twelve-year-old 'chemkaras' as they are known, have to
fight for survival in a hostile world in which they are confronted with
violence, poverty, prostitution and indifference on a daily basis. Their
only comfort is to sniff the odd tube of glue. That, and the strong bond
of friendship between them.
Then, one day, during a fight with a rival group, Ali is hit and killed
by a stone flung at him by the group's leader. This senseless killing
leaves his friends at a loss. What should they do? Should they leave his
body where it is? Or should they tell the police so that they can bury
it any old place? "He may have lived like a piece of dirt",
decides Kouka, "but he will not be buried like that".
And so the friends hide Ali's body at the docks, intending to bury him
'like a prince' within the next few days. They break the news to Ali's
mother, a prostitute working in a bar and tell her of their plans. They
ask her to come to the funeral, even though she hasn't seen her son in
years. They set about raising the money needed to pay the man who will
say the last rites and to buy the sailor's uniform Ali always dreamed
of owning, so that he could one day sail off to the island with "two
suns"...
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