Cheb

A reconnaissance in feature-film form of the people and landscape of Algeria. The protagonist, Merwan Kechida, is an Algerian youth of twenty who emigrated to France with his parents as a baby. He has grown up and gone to school in France and feels like a Frenchman, even if he does still have the Algerian nationality. His Algerian passport costs him dear when he comes into contact with the law after a ‘blunder’. After a brief period in jail he is deported to Algeria. From one dat to the next he finds himself dumped in a strange and hostile culture. He doesn’t feel at home at all in his own fatherland; he can’t even speak Arabic.In Algeria Merwan is immediately called up for military service and stationed in barracks deep in the desert. He is then in a dilemma: how can he escape from his fatherland where he is a prisoner to France where he could be deported on the spot? He deserts and on his flight he meets the girl Malika. She has also grown up in France and wants to return. But her parents have sent her to Algeria now she is held captive in Algeria by her family. They decide to flee together.On their way they discover the country and its people in spite of themselves. Not all their fellows turn out to be hostile. Merwan is taken in by a traditional Arab as his own son, which gradually changes his view of his country of birth. Back in France he cannot find the country where he had once felt so at home.