CANNES -- The word bled in Bled Number One, the title of Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche's follow-up to his well-regarded debut Wesh-Wesh (What's Going On?) in 2001, translates roughly as Hicksville. Which is precisely where Kamel ends up after being deported from France to Algeria, the land of his fathers, after doing time for robbery.
Bled is a finely observed slice of life shot in a low-key semi-documentary style. The latest in a run of French-made movies dealing with Franco-Algerian cross-currents, it speaks volumes about the conditions of life in today's Algeria and should play well in festivals and in the Arabic-speaking world. It opens June 7 in France.
Ameur-Zaimeche, as Kamel, plays the male lead as he did in Wesh whose protagonist also is a young Franco-Algerian recently released from prison. But where the earlier film deals with inner-city issues in France, Bled takes a cold-eyed look at life on the other side of the water.
Back in the small coastal town where the rest of his family still lives, Kamel-la-France, as he is promptly dubbed, finds that he is not the only returnee. His sister Louisa (Meriem Serbah) has been thrown out by her husband on the grounds that she has shown an interest in jazz singing. His brother Bouzid (Abel Jafri) shows little sympathy for his sister's plight. On the contrary, he accuses her of bringing shame on the family and beats her up.
Kamel enjoys his celebrity status to begin with but this soon palls and he fades from the scene to a large extent as Ameur-Zaimeche focuses on Louisa's efforts to cope with her repudiation. The director is clearly more interested in accumulating the fine detail of daily life than in building strong story lines. Nevertheless, he maintains a firm hold on the narrative and the viewer's attention.
The nearest he comes to drama is in the intervention of the local gang of Islamic hardliners. A game of dominos -- this is as exciting as it gets in downtown Bled -- is broken up by the ringleader who denounces the players for engaging in such an outrageously un-Islamic activity. Then Bouzid, having bought a few bottles of beer for home consumption, is captured by the gang while crossing a field, trussed up like the heifer we have just seen slaughtered a few scenes earlier, and threatened with having his throat cut unless he mends his ways.
Ameur-Zaimeche's direction is unfussy, favoring a quietly reflective mood with slow fades and several long takes of exteriors in dying light. He is never judgmental, but it's clear where his sympathies lie: In the conflict between tradition and modernity, at least in this corner of the Arab-Islamic world, the latter has a lot of catching up to do. The situation of women who have acquired Western tastes -- like Louisa who, in the hospital where she has been taken after an abortive suicide attempt, sweetly sings the Billie Holiday classic Don't Explain -- is particularly delicate.
By the end, Kamel, too, is looking for the exit. "I can't stand it any more. I've got to get out of here," he tells Bouzid. He inquires about the prospects in neighboring Tunisia, assuming he can get himself smuggled across the border. Little better, Bouzid replies. There is more than a hint of melancholy in Ameur-Zaimeche's conclusion in which Kamel listens to a friend playing a blues guitar on a hillside at sunset.
BLED NUMBER ONE
Sarrazink/Les Films du Losange
Credits:
Director: Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche
Screenwriters: Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche, Louise Thermes
Executive producers: Carole Solive, Lotfi Bouchouchi
Director of photography: Lionel Sautier, Hamed Si Ahmed, Olivier Smittarello
Music: Rodolphe Burger
Editor: Nicolas Bancilhon
Cast:
Louisa: Meriem Serbah
Bouzid: Abel Jafri
Kamel: Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche
Loubna: Farida Ouchani
Ahmed: Ramzy Bedia
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Bled is a finely observed slice of life shot in a low-key semi-documentary style. The latest in a run of French-made movies dealing with Franco-Algerian cross-currents, it speaks volumes about the conditions of life in today's Algeria and should play well in festivals and in the Arabic-speaking world. It opens June 7 in France.
Ameur-Zaimeche, as Kamel, plays the male lead as he did in Wesh whose protagonist also is a young Franco-Algerian recently released from prison. But where the earlier film deals with inner-city issues in France, Bled takes a cold-eyed look at life on the other side of the water.
Back in the small coastal town where the rest of his family still lives, Kamel-la-France, as he is promptly dubbed, finds that he is not the only returnee. His sister Louisa (Meriem Serbah) has been thrown out by her husband on the grounds that she has shown an interest in jazz singing. His brother Bouzid (Abel Jafri) shows little sympathy for his sister's plight. On the contrary, he accuses her of bringing shame on the family and beats her up.
Kamel enjoys his celebrity status to begin with but this soon palls and he fades from the scene to a large extent as Ameur-Zaimeche focuses on Louisa's efforts to cope with her repudiation. The director is clearly more interested in accumulating the fine detail of daily life than in building strong story lines. Nevertheless, he maintains a firm hold on the narrative and the viewer's attention.
The nearest he comes to drama is in the intervention of the local gang of Islamic hardliners. A game of dominos -- this is as exciting as it gets in downtown Bled -- is broken up by the ringleader who denounces the players for engaging in such an outrageously un-Islamic activity. Then Bouzid, having bought a few bottles of beer for home consumption, is captured by the gang while crossing a field, trussed up like the heifer we have just seen slaughtered a few scenes earlier, and threatened with having his throat cut unless he mends his ways.
Ameur-Zaimeche's direction is unfussy, favoring a quietly reflective mood with slow fades and several long takes of exteriors in dying light. He is never judgmental, but it's clear where his sympathies lie: In the conflict between tradition and modernity, at least in this corner of the Arab-Islamic world, the latter has a lot of catching up to do. The situation of women who have acquired Western tastes -- like Louisa who, in the hospital where she has been taken after an abortive suicide attempt, sweetly sings the Billie Holiday classic Don't Explain -- is particularly delicate.
By the end, Kamel, too, is looking for the exit. "I can't stand it any more. I've got to get out of here," he tells Bouzid. He inquires about the prospects in neighboring Tunisia, assuming he can get himself smuggled across the border. Little better, Bouzid replies. There is more than a hint of melancholy in Ameur-Zaimeche's conclusion in which Kamel listens to a friend playing a blues guitar on a hillside at sunset.
BLED NUMBER ONE
Sarrazink/Les Films du Losange
Credits:
Director: Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche
Screenwriters: Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche, Louise Thermes
Executive producers: Carole Solive, Lotfi Bouchouchi
Director of photography: Lionel Sautier, Hamed Si Ahmed, Olivier Smittarello
Music: Rodolphe Burger
Editor: Nicolas Bancilhon
Cast:
Louisa: Meriem Serbah
Bouzid: Abel Jafri
Kamel: Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche
Loubna: Farida Ouchani
Ahmed: Ramzy Bedia
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 5/17/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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