The Arab

Malek Bensmaïl
Fri 24 Apr 26 - Thu 30 Apr 26
  • Content rating: Caution with children up to 16 years of age

Traumas from the past collide with a civil war in the present in this postcolonial version of the legendary tale by Camus. 

Kamel is a journalist during the Algerian civil war in the nineteen nineties. In a bar he meets Haroun, a retired civil servant who tells him the story of his brother Moussa. Moussa is the person who was killed by Meursault, an event the French author Camus writes about in his book “L’étranger”. Haroun starts talking about his youth and about his mother’s grief for the loss of his brother. 

This debut film has a classic construction, in which the broad historical context and emotional intimacy flow perfectly into one another. By alternating colour with black and white, widescreen with square aspect ratios, the director provides the necessary dynamic. The film is based on the book “Meursault, contre-enquête" by the Algerian writer Kamel Daoud, giving a name to the Arab from the novel “L’Étranger” by Albert Camus. Just like the novel, this film is a modest but powerful analysis of the lasting scars of colonialism.

The Arab
direction
Malek Bensmaïl
duration
106 min
year
2026
country
Algeria
language
Arabic
Subtitles
Engels
  • Content rating: Caution with children up to 16 years of age

"A mostly compelling metatextual experiment, made with intelligence, wit and lofty ambition." - Stephen Dalton, The Film Verdict

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