Director

Yamina Bachir

Cast list

Rachida: Ibtissem Djouadi
Aicha: Bahia Rachedi
Zohra: Rachida Messaoui En
Hassen: Hamid Remas
Khaled: Zaki Boulenafed
La mariée: Amel Choukh
Mokhtar: Abdelkader Belmokadem
Tahar: Azzedine Bougherra
Fatima: Amal Ksili

Credits

Produced by: Thierry Lenouvel and Margarita Seguy

Music: Anne-Olga De Pass

Cinematography: Mustafa Ben Mihoub

Editing: Cécile Andreotti and Yamina Bachir

Synopsis

This film follows Rachida, a young teacher in Algiers in the 1990s. One day, Rachida is confronted by a terrorist who attempts to force her to take a bomb to her school; she refuses and is shot in the abdomen. Although she recovers, she is no longer safe at her school, and is transferred to a more rural area. Still shaken up by the incident, she is terrified of going outside or getting to know the people in her new village despite her mother's encouragement. When she grows bold enough to leave her house, Rachida soon realizes that her fears were not unwarranted--here, too, there are networks of terrorists who rape and traumatize local women and who cause great destruction in her new community. Rachida must find a way to continually rebuilt her life as she struggles to teach a new generation.

Reviews

Carole Corm, A Woman's Struggle in the Midst of War.  AlJadid (online review and record of Arab culture and arts)