How many obstacles in his way! And what tenacity to overcome them. Adapted from the autobiography of singer Malika Bellaribi (1), fiction White Sandals follows the journey of life and art of a woman inhabited by passion. By courage too. Born in the mid-1950s in a Nanterre slum, Malika, the seventh of nine siblings, lives with a loving father who died prematurely of tuberculosis, a mother embittered by the harshness of her daily life and, above all, an accident. extremely serious that could have left her stuck in a wheelchair for life.
But, already, the child displays a fierce determination and the conviction that she will come out of it. In her slow re-education punctuated by operations, in her fight against the announced destiny of submissive wife and diligent housewife, a comforter accompanies her: music. Discovered in the religious medical institutions where she stayed, singing soothes and excites her, whether it comes from the sacred pages of Mozart or ignites the hits of opera. Despite her Algerian origins, her ignorance of music theory, the prejudices of the lyrical milieu and the imperatives of material life, Malika clings on.
At the service of others
The very classic (not to say lazy) production by Christian Faure, the additional music of an invasive banality and the somewhat clumsy acting of certain actors could make White sandals yet another edifying TV movie, with a “happy ending” at the end of a series of twists of fate.
But the caustic spirits themselves will be moved by the strength of Malika Bellaribi and, even more, by the generosity with which she puts her experience at the service of others. Nicknamed the Diva of the suburbs, the singer teaches her art in neighborhoods where opera is ignored, even denigrated, and welds sometimes antagonistic personalities around their voices united in chorus: “Your voice is unique, and it’s the diversity that creates harmony. »