Throughout his life, Said has felt branded as the son of a traitor and has felt the need to behave in a way that would prove himself the opposite. His father was one of the 30,000 Moroccans who disappeared as the government sought to silence all opposition following its independence from France in 1956. Through the late 1980s, political activists, trade unionists and common civilians were jailed, tortured, or left to die in secret prisons. In 2004 the government established the Equity and Reconciliation Commission to investigate the disappearances and “reconcile Moroccans with their history.” OUR FORBIDDEN PLACES follows Said and three other families who may now learn the fate of their lost relatives. Yet resolution does not come easily, and many people feel conflicted about learning the truth. Some have buried the memory and do not want to resurrect it, out of shame, mistrust for the government or simply hesitance to reopen wounds long healed. Others—typically the younger generation—aggressively seek the truth from their evasive relatives and from government officials. And for those who were imprisoned and lived to tell their story, some find they cannot even do so; “Absolute silence … or too many words,” laments one former prisoner. The history of Morocco, he says, is like an oral tale, one that can be narrated but has never been written. The Equity and Reconciliation Commission seeks to remedy that, and OUR FORBIDDEN PLACES shows how complicated the process of healing can be.