Les chemins de l’Oued

The political situation in Algeria would appear to have improved somewhat in recent times, but there seems to be no sign of a real end to the terrible drama and the endless slaughter. Results in film are however starting to emerge. A powerful contribution is provided by Gaël Morel, whose Les chemins de l’oued was produced as a TV film for the French-German channel Arte, but is now fortunately first on release on 35 mm.The FrenchAlgerian Sam panics and runs over a Paris policeman, killing him. When he confesses this to his parents, overwhelmed by guilt, his mother sends him as quickly as she can to her family in Algeria. Sam, who feels like a Parisian and doesn’t speak a word of Arabic, feels like an outsider on the humble farm of his sick uncle. The old man hopes that his `new’ grandson would like to take over the farm with its exhausted wadis, the old springs. Sam is not the only one trying to keep a secret, as becomes apparent when he meets his male cousin Issam and above all his pretty female cousin Nadia. She is a widow and teaches handicapped children, but her husband may have been a terrorist. Sam finds the traces left by the violence in his mother’s homeland. Citizens protect themselves with machine guns and children regard any stranger as a potential assassin. Trust and honour have given way to alienation and murderous feelings of guilt.