Cinema
Aïla ki nass
Amar Tribèche · 1990
Synopsis
The Bentebouks live modestly in a small flat on the outskirts of Algiers, and their life is monotonous. The purchase of an old Aronde turns everything upside down: it has to be paid for, repaired, parked, shown off. Around them the country is changing, satellite dishes are sprouting on the roofs, women are demanding their rights, and the family struggles to finally become a family like any other.
Context
The film was released in 1990 and takes as its subject the changes of the moment, women's rights, satellite dishes, through the ordeal of a family that wants its car. Athmane Ariouet plays the father, Fatiha Berber the mother, with Mourad Chaabane and Saïd Amrane; the eldest daughter sews to supplement the head of the family's meagre income, a social detail that the Algerian press still notes twenty-five years later. The Algerian Cultural Centre in Paris screens it regularly again.
Who it is for
A family comedy in Algerian Arabic, subtitled and easy to approach. It helps to know that much of the comedy depends on the speech of Algiers, which the subtitling renders poorly.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as a legendary film of Algerian comic cinema, it remains one of the most appreciated by the public, and its lines have passed into everyday language.