emotionally devastating

Rating: 10/10 (11 January 2004)

After watching this film, I was completely overwhelmed. The power of the imagery and the music, the complex ethical questions that are posed as a result of the story, the fact that military occupations still occur today, all this left me emotionally devastated. Real-life revolutionary Brahim Haggiag portrays the fictional Ali La Pointe with a subtle intensity. Unfortunately, many of the other non-professional actors fall short in capturing such intensity. But this detracts little from the film, which just produces one memorable scene after another, until the final scenes of revolution. The film actually does an excellent job of taking into account the complexities of the French occupation in Algeria as well. I can't recommend it enough.