ALIENATIONS

Malek Bensmail
Algeria, France 2003 | 105 Min. | BetaSP, OmeU

Alge­ria is a young state with a long his­to­ry. The 20th cen­tu­ry has been marked by colo­nial­ism, colo­nial war and unprece­dent­ed social and cul­tur­al upheavals that have called into ques­tion value and belief sys­tems that took a cen­tu­ry to forge. The film exam­ines the ill­ness afflict­ing Alge­ri­ans today as they attempt to deal with reli­gious, polit­i­cal, eco­nom­ic and family tur­moil. ”For the last few years, I’ve bee wait­ing to make this film with you, father, about the suf­fer­ing of the family of the men­tal­ly ill in Alge­ria. You devot­ed your life to reliev­ing the suf­fer­ing of our sick people and treat­ing them. I have decid­ed to observe your team’s work at the Djebel Ouahch hos­pi­tal in Con­stan­tine, which first saw the light of day thanks to your obsti­nate deter­mi­na­tion. Today, the young psy­chi­a­trists that you trained breathe the life into this her­itage by con­tin­u­ing your work with sick people. With them I ded­i­cate this film to you.” (Malek Bensmaïl)