Abdelhafid Metalsi Movies
- 2007
The brutal legacy of the Algerian war forms the heart of filmmaker Florent Emilio Siri's stark period drama concerning a young French soldier confronted by the horrors of war. Lieutenant Terrien (Benoît Magimel) has been dispatched to one of the most remote regions of Algeria to replace an officer who was killed in a recent skirmish. But this war is much more complicated than Lieutenant Terrien ever anticipated, and before long he is forced to confront a World War II French Army veteran willing to kill the soldiers with whom he once served in order to secure the independence of his birthplace. When the fellaghas (Algerian national fighters) massacre an entire village in retaliation for a visit from the French, Lieutenant Terrien vows to remain calm and professional despite the unspeakable horrors that greet him with each passing day. On the other side of the coin is battle-hardened Sergeant Dougnac (Albert Dupontel), a soldier who has seen more than his fair share of combat and stands firm in the belief that this brand of brutality can only be confronted with equal measures of barbarity. Later, Lieutenant Terrien meets a young boy who miraculously survived the massacre of his village and is forced to see the conflict through the innocent eyes of a child. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benoît Magimel, Albert Dupontel, (more)
- 2007
French-Senegalese filmmaker Alain Gomis takes the helm for this intimate study in identity loss, disenfranchisement, and the search for inner peace concerning a thirty-something Frenchman of Algerian origin who longs to find his place in early-21st Century France. Yacine (Samir Guesmi) has abandoned his family home in the projects in order to live on his own in a cramped trailer. Though Yacine is something of a social worker, he specifically shuns the prospect of landing a permanent job for fear that his life will grow stagnant and dull. Later, as Yacine walks the city streets at night meeting with friends, listening to ethnic music, and generally soaking in the local color, a series of conversations gradually bring the nomadic city-dweller's mysterious past into focus. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Samir Guesmi, Delphine Zingg, (more)
- 2006
Roschdy Zem and Cecile de France star as a Muslim Arab and a Jewish woman who find their four-year love affair put to the ultimate test in director/co-writer Zem's 21st Century take on Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? Ishmael (Zem) is a music instructor at a Paris conservatory. His widowed mother still lives in the housing project in which her son was raised, and his Jewish best friend is the proprietor of a popular independent record store. Clara (France) is a physical therapist who specializes in helping motor-impaired children and whose retired parents live with her single sister in the family's comfortable suburban home. Secular thirty-somethings who never put much credence in adhering to their respective faiths, Ishmael and Clara have remained together for four fun-filled years without incidence. When Clara discovers that she has become pregnant with Ishmael's child, however, the couple's carefree romance threatens to grow complicated as their ethnic backgrounds bleed into the forefront of their consciences and they struggle with how to reveal the development to their traditional-minded parents. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roschdy Zem, Cécile De France, (more)
A love-struck poet travels into the heart of wartime Iraq in hopes of rescuing the woman he loves in Academy award-winning director Roberto Benigni's affecting tale of love and devotion. A kind poet and father to his daughters, a respected lecturer and literary figure to his students, and a complete nuisance in the eyes of his beloved Vittoria (Nicoletta Braschi), Attilio (Benigni) finds his life suddenly turned upside down when he learns that the object of his undying affections has been critically injured in a Baghdad bombing. Now, despite the chaos sweeping through Iraq, Attilio vows to risk everything in order to travel into the heart of Baghdad and deliver the medicine that will awaken the woman of his dreams from a potentially eternal slumber. Jean Reno and Tom Waits co-star in this heartfelt, seriocomic romance, which pits the uplifting power of love against the destructive force of bombs. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, (more)
