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Based on Algerian proverbs and sayings, this tape reviews Algerian history in this century. The French colonisation, the Second World War, the pacification of 1957 and the ultimate independence in 1962. The political leaders are considered in cleverly edited sequences: Boudiaf, Ben Bella, Colonel Boumedienne, Messaoudi, and figures from the Islamic movement like Malcolm X and Farakhan. Sollers and Levy are also included in this kaleidoscopic image of a country that thanks to its eventful colonial past, still has difficulties determining its own identity more than thirty years after its independence. Barbarism is all its forms, including the military forms it can assume with followers of the FIS, is set against the domestic warnings of those who plead for keeping eyes open, and keeping society open. Like Islamic sayings, Rene Char is also quoted with his statement: "Si l’homme ne fermait souverainement les yeux il finirait par ne plus voir ce qui vaut d’être regardé!" (If man would not close his eyes himself, he would ultimately fail to see what was worthwile to behold!)
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Willem van Weelden
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Camera François Poirier, Editing Cédric Jouan, Mathieu Bretaud, Sound, Music Phil Marboeuf, Voice Annie Aymes, Translation Kadda Boutarene (Algerian Proverbs), Production Malik Bensmaïl, Bien Vu, Listen Productions
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1 9 9 6 
