Rachida (2003)

Certainly this film opened my eyes to just how horrendously violent the seemingly endless low- level civil war in Algeria in the 1990s was.Rachida is a young, free-spirited teacher just trying to live her life when terrorists shoot her after she refuses to carry a bomb into her school for them. She survives, but has to flee Algiers to hide in a small town in the countryside. She is traumatized and afraid, but slowly tries to re- build her life, at the same time violence continues to take an ever deeper hold even in her new small town.But while the subject is important and the intentions are admirable, the film is hampered by weak acting that tends to both the stiff and the overwrought, characters who can lapse into cliché, along with a sub-plots that feels awkward in its attempts at comic relief.I wish the quality of story-telling could have lived up to the value of the issues being raised, but I'm still glad I saw it.

After Algeria won independence from France, a single party dominated the government for almost thirty years. When the Algerian people voted it out, the government nullified the election, leading to a civil war. Yamina Bachir's "Rachida" is set during the civil war. The movie's main point is that the protagonist simply wants to live her life even as terrorist gangs roam the streets. A lot of what happens in the movie reminds me of what we now hear about happening in Mexico. People keep thinking that it's possible to militarily defeat the amorphous tactic that is terrorism.It's a good look at the sorts of things that happened in Algeria during the 1990s. Part of the thing is that I like it when movies show cultures that we don't often get to see. I hope to see more of Yamina Bachir's movies.

I noticed that a reviewer felt this film was "good for what it is" or words to that effect. I'm not sure that this is fair ... if this is a cast of unknowns, and I don't know Algerian film enough to know that for sure, they do a good job. The lead performance is very good as is the actress who plays her mother. Other supporting roles are overall good while the children are very good.It also is not fair to compare Algeria to Rwanda ... there are different sorts of violence and unrest. After all, our own terrorist violence compared to some nations was rather small scale in tragedy. The situation in Algeria -- unknown by many who focus on Palestine and other areas -- is far from mild. The film does a good job showing the results of unrest and violence, including focusing on a few key victims, especially women.The movie might be low budget -- though many Middle Eastern films, including Iranian do seem to be, while still being very good -- but it was a rewarding experience. The viewer gets a taste of the culture, including small time life, while truly caring about the fate of the lead and those around her. The ending especially hits hard and felt very real ... with a touch of hope.I picked this up at the library and was quite satisfied.

"Rachida" uses a pretty, young school teacher, the title character, as the centerpiece of this story which spends most of its time looking at the problems which beset Algeria in the 1990s when the country was struggling with civil war. This testament by its female Algerian director digs into life as a woman in the Sunni Muslim patriarchal culture and the day to day living with anxiety and fear as bands of guerrilla thugs roam the streets. As a subtitled foreign film with obvious budget limitations, location constraints, a first directorial outing, a cast of unknowns, and an story which pales when compared with Rwanda, for example, "Rachida" will go overlooked by most. However, for those with an interest in Algeria or stories about women trying to wrest happiness from a class culture in turmoil, "Rachida" should be worth a look. (C+)