In many ways, this Moroccan drama resembles a drug-trade narrative. Yachine (Abdelhakim Rachid) and Nabil (Hamza Souidek) live in a desolate slum, and find themselves lured by the seeming success of Yachine’s older brother, Hamid (Abdedlilah Rachid). But the drug Hamid peddles is religion, and the goal is the horrific 2003 attack in Casablanca that left 45 people dead.
Director Nabil Ayouch does a remarkable job of putting you inside this brutal world, from the garbage dumps that serve as playgrounds to soaring aerial shots of the endless tin roofs that form their neighborhood.
The narrative begins in 1994, and at times the pace becomes overly deliberate. All the same, “Horses of God” attempts to portray what might turn soccer-playing boys into fanatical murderers.