raidatlanta
I hesitated between rating this a 7 or 8, but i think i went for a 7 because lets face it, the movie is a little dull.the story is simple, parents who had immigrated from Algeria to France return to Algeria, and their children who seemingly were born in France and had always lived there have trouble adapting. it has some very good elements and provides a nice "inside view" of Algeria, Algerian society and the relations between the Algerian and the french within Algeria, which is interesting since it's usually much easier to find documents about their relations within France, but not Algeria.Personally i find it could have benefited the film to show a bit more of them in France. we mostly only see that in the first few minutes and in one or two flashbacks (i can only recall one by memory). it would have helped to show contrast maybe, and would have made the movie easier to follow for people who would necessarily have been able to guess what was happening at the start. (the opening scenes that are in France don't have a direct link with the scenes of them going back to Algeria, and so it did take me about 10 minutes for me to realize that movie was about French Algerians going back to Algeria and not Algerians immigrating to France).Nevertheless, it is a good movie of what we would call "Cinéma d'auteur" (author's cinema). the film is more like a novel, with some more drawn out shots and with some scenes that, even though not directly linked to the story itself, go with the film showing Algeria at that time in general. the magazine "le Quotidien De Paris" even compared it's author (and director) to Marcel Pagnol when it came out. It is also Mahmoud Zemouri's first movie as a director.of course, as i said, it does turn out a little dull, and the end is a little inconclusive, as if they had lacked budget, time or film, but it's still good, in my opinion. It's also a good place to learn french slang since about two thirds or the movie's french dialogues are written in it. it must also be interesting for people speaking Arabic, since i did hear a lot of french mixed into the Algerian Arabic dialogues.
