Mohammedia City's Moroccan Community
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Cinema Najah
One of the most exciting places in the city of Mohammedia is now closed
For so many years, Cinema Najah was one of the perfect places to go to in a city of Morocco named Mohammedia. Many people found nothing as exciting as an afternoon of going to the movie theater alone or with friends, especially on a Thursday when the new big movie posters were glued on Cinema Najah's walls.
Cinema Najah had two kinds of tickets, the balcony and the main floor. The balcony ticket cost around twelve dirhams, whereas the main floor ticket cost six. Cinema Najah opened twice a day for the public. The first opening was from 3pm until 6pm, and the second was from 9pm until midnight. It had two sets of movies playing during each opening, and it was a fifteen-minute break time between them. During the break time, clients could buy, for example, a barbecue sausage or boiled egg sandwich or smoke a cigarette. Going for the break, customers will get a small piece of paper that they must show in order to get back for the second movie. Customers who did not like to watch the second movie could sell it in the black market for about three dirhams.
Usually, movies are a kind of storytelling; they try to describe an idea or record an observation about our culture, but Cinema Najah's movies were never about Moroccan culture! They were either American movies like Rambo or Indian movies that had singing and dancing for hours; in most cases, they were picture movies, too long to watch, and not translated to the Moroccan language.
Although most of Cinema Najah's moviegoers were not able to understand the language of the movie they were watching, surprisingly they were able to get its main idea. For instance, in American movies, the main character was always the hero, and America was the world saver.
Today, Cinema Najah is a ghost building; its big doors are closed, and its facade is barely recognizable. Its sign at the top is missing "N" and "J". And its walls are sadly peeling off.
If you have ever visited Mohammedia, make sure to take a picture of Cinema Najah's building; who knows, it may vanish forever.
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