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Justice battles with political pragmatism in this drama from Morocco. A powerful and respected lawyer with political ambitions makes a disturbing discovery about his irresponsible teenaged son: the boy brutally raped a 13-year-old girl, the sister of the family's housekeeper. While he's troubled by the knowledge of his son's crime, the attorney tries to keep the sordid event a secret, certain it would be fatal to his career if the story became public knowledge. While the housekeeper is deeply upset by the consequences of the rape -- the victim has since lost the ability to speak -- she also opts to keep quiet about the attack, convinced the lawyer could use his connections to prevent the imminent release of her husband from prison. The housekeeper's brother, however, is outraged by the crime and the lawyer's unwillingness to do anything about it, and he decides to take the law into his own hands. Produced, directed, and co-written by Jillali Ferhati, Tresses was shown in competition at the 2000 Turin Film Festival.