Drama · War · History
Algerian (Chronique des Années de Braise)
1975 · Directed by Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina · 177 min
An Algerian epic that follows a peasant, his family and a wandering, half-mad prophet through fifteen years of drought, war and colonial rule. History is told from the ground up, in long, formal chapters and wide, sun-hammered landscapes.
Why it matters in cinema history
A landmark of Third World cinema from the 1970s, it showed that a state-backed African film could match the epic ambition of European and Hollywood history films while telling the colonised side of the story.
Watch with intention
Watch it as a chronicle of a whole society, where one family's private fortunes are the way the film measures history.
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