Director Elias Belkeddar signs an endearing first film on a story of friendship and uprooting. The Réda Kateb-Benoît Magimel duo works wonderfully. Effective.
Looks like a long clip, looks like DJ Snake Disco Maghreb. Verification made, it is the same director: Elias Belkeddar. Polished images, rhythmic rhythm, catchy music signed by the brilliant and essential Sofiane Sadi, and for the interpretation Réda Kateb as a thug with long hair and Benoît Magimel, more Gérard Depardieu than ever. Omar the Strawberry is, surely, the long version of a wedding day, a short film by the director presented at Cannes in 2018. The scenario is much the same, except that the thug who drags his spleen through Algiers is no longer called Karim but Omar and his friend is French and is named Roger. The actor duo Kateb-Magimel works wonderfully. Their friendship pierces the screen.
Effective and sensitive
The film opens with an absurd, wacky scene: Réda Kateb and Benoît Magimel are walking in the desert discussing the fate of one of their acquaintances. Then, in the middle of nowhere, they arrive in front of a 4X4, driven by Tuaregs. They exchange their bags, money for drugs, while continuing their innocuous discussion, without exchanging a single word with their partners.
The tone is set. The film runs on humour, beautiful images and aesthetics. Omar therefore, condemned in France, does not manage to integrate in the country of origin of his parents. Roger asks him to make an effort and keep quiet, away from drug trafficking. “Do you think I’m going to spend my life by the pool, where there’s no water?”, gets carried away Omar, who only dreams of going back to France. Of the two, it was Roger who adapted the most to his new environment.
Algiers, Algiers
The great discovery of the film, in addition to the duet, is the beautiful part made in Dickensian, dark Algiers. The director has found very talented and endearing kids to play a band of thugs ready to do anything to achieve their ends, often in a clumsy and violent way. “Whoever wants fish must get his ass wet”, philosopher the chef, from the height of her adolescence. Omar recognizes himself in these young delinquents. He takes them in affection. A mutual understanding is established between him and the band of the Climate of France, one of the popular districts of Algiers.
And then, unprepared, love takes on a face, that of Meriem Amiar. It was not in Omar’s plan to open up to others. To trust. And when Omar loves… Omar the Strawberry, an effective, endearing film.
Technical sheet
Title : Omar the strawberry
Direction and screenplay: Elias Belkeddar
Duration : 92 minutes
Distribution : Reda Kateb, Benoît Magimel and Meriem Amiar
Release date : May 24, 2023
Summary: Omar, better known as Omar the Strawberry, is an old-fashioned bandit. Forced on the run in Algeria, he saw little shenanigans, accompanied by his illustrious sidekick Roger. After having reigned over the middle of French banditry for decades, they must together accept their new life when they have lived so far only in debauchery and violence.