Last session of the Official Section of this 39th edition of La Mostra de Valencia that began with the screening of Algiers, by the Algerian Chakib Taleb-Bendiab, film chosen to represent his country in the race towards the Oscars.
The film tells the story of the kidnapping of a girl in a popular neighborhood of the city of Algiers that gives it its title.. This event will bring together Sami, a detective with a devious character, and Dounia, a brilliant psychologist with a hidden past who, we will discover, is related to the facts. Dounia has only 48 hours to prepare a psychological report to solve the case, but, to the difficulties corresponding to any investigation, Added to this is the opposition of her partner and a police force that does not welcome being led by a woman..
Algiers It has almost the same seasonings as It all ends here. Change the scene, change the profession of our protagonists, but the structure is similar. Like in the Croatian film, Chakib Taleb-Bendiab's film uses a genre plot to create a conscientious portrait of a society that feels unprotected in the face of forces over which it has not the slightest influence or protection.. Algiersstarts, So, describing the water cuts that the city is suffering, a situation that, again, separates the administrative power from the ordinary citizen. A group of children plays in a dark alley, when a car approaches them and takes one of the girls by surprise. This will produce a great commotion in a community that will end up mixing both conflicts.. The reaction to the kidnapping of the girl is a mirror of the frustration with the surrounding poverty.
Chakib Taleb-Bendiab draws a city of abandoned streets, popular souks and threatening corners where danger can be anywhere. A city without hope that no longer trusts the law and will try to take justice into its own hands, as an expression of his own frustration. In a classic script twist, The police arrest a homeless man who appears to be a suspect in the kidnapping of the girl. The curious will try to pounce on the agents, ready to lynch him. The society, blind, has handed down his sentence.
These events serve as the Algerian director's reflection on the role of law in his native Algeria.. So, while Khaled, Sami's partner, any action is justified, For Dounia it is necessary to limit ourselves to tests; One is not guilty until proven otherwise and neither can anyone be convicted on a whim.. Khaled, instead, He feels a deep contempt for what he considers the remains of society., about which he makes no distinctions. It matters little if an innocent person is executed, he must have done something wrong anyway.
These two poles, that of the exercise of an implacable justice that acts without qualms against everything and everyone in the face of another vision that adheres to some essential principles and guarantees, will be part of the conflict that the characters face. The other playing field will be that of a society that has not yet integrated women into the social structure.. In this context, Sami feels doubly threatened, on the one hand, in his leadership, on the other hand, because of the humiliation he thinks Dounia's knowledge and preparation entails.. To psychological data and theories, the suspicious Sami puts his street knowledge first, the wisdom of life. Both will have to bring their positions closer together to capture the kidnapper.. “If you don't know yourself well or your enemy, "You will lose every battle.", says Sami quoting a passage from Sun Tzu's Art of Warthat he has on top of his desk at the police station. Sami will have to expose himself and recognize his own limitations to understand the true meaning of that sentence.. That will be your real battle.
And in the background, the fear. Fear that mobilizes a society and that grips it. The fear that Dounia feels for a past that she will also have to face. The fear that breaks the innocence of childhood and a community that no longer feels safe. If anyone can be a murderer or a criminal, how do we protect ourselves? GERARDO LEON
