Cinema
Patrouille à l'Est
Amar Laskri · 1971
Synopsis
During the war of independence, a patrol of the National Liberation Army is ordered to escort a captured French soldier to the Tunisian border. It must cross djebels held by the enemy with a man who has to be kept alive, fed and watched. The column advances through closed country, and each day makes the mission more uncertain than the day before.
Context
The state office produced this black-and-white film, one hundred and fifteen minutes long, with actors several of whom came from the theatre. It belongs to the series that the national film office had made in those years to fix the story of the war, and its author, who had lived it as a teenager, told in it a world he had seen. One scene has become proverbial in Algeria: a lookout cries “Yaou Alikoum Men Guelma” to warn the fighters of the colonial army's movements, and the cry is taken up in echo from ridge to ridge. It is brought out again today to celebrate the men of the maquis as much as to mock them.
Who it is for
Nearly two hours, subtitled, easy to follow: a march, a mission, an escort. It helps to know that everything rests on a single journey and on the guarding of a man who must be brought back alive.
Prizes and reception
At his death, the daily El Watan regarded this film as unrivalled, and one of its lines has entered everyday language.