Cinema
Hassan Taxi
Mohamed Slim Riad · 1982
Synopsis
Hassan is tired, worn out by the long years that followed independence. A veteran, he obtains a taxi licence on that basis and starts criss-crossing the streets of Algiers. Customers get in and out, each with some business to settle, and the rides turn into the most improbable adventures.
Context
The character comes from the theatre, and Rouiched, who had invented him, plays him here for the third time in fourteen years: he is now a war veteran, a status that earns him a licence. He wrote the screenplay with the director; Rabah Dabouz handled the editing. Robert Castel and Lucette Sahuquet came from France, Sid Ali Kouiret from Algiers, and Keltoum and Fatiha Berber complete the cast.
Who it is for
A comedy of nearly two hours, in Arabic with subtitles, with no difficulty of access. It helps to know that the comedy rests on a character the public had already known for fourteen years.
Prizes and reception
Its author's last film, and the last of the three in which Rouiched played the same man, made popular by the theatre and then by cinema.