Brother of the victim, Rachid Hami films his family torn apart by the stupid death of an exemplary student at the prestigious military school.
The drowning of Jallal Hami at the age of 23 during a hazing (“barking” in the local jargon) at the school of Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan (Morbihan) in 2012, was quickly stifled by the great mute. The director Rachid Hami, brother of the victim, takes this work of memory as the starting point of an uncompromising film on the Algerian diaspora of the 90s within a broken family. Beautifully written, directed and performed, For France hits theaters Wednesday, February 8.
Tragic hazing at the Military School of Saint-Cyr on October 30, 2012: Aïssa, 23, drowned in a pond during an integration ritual. The news strikes a family whose mother left Algeria in 1992 with her two children, and whose father stayed behind. Ismaël, the big brother, faces an embarrassed military authority to do justice to Aïssa, and remembers their childhood until their last days spent together, in Taipei.
The first images evoke a scene of war inApocalypse Now : the night crossing of a pond by a battalion, in a general panic with scattered fires in a hubbub and a trying stress. Then we find ourselves in Algeria in 1992 where the GIA is rampant, pushing a mother to leave alone with her two sons for France. The sequel will connect the two events in a scholarly construction to expose a drama that will turn into tragedy.
Ishmael is Antigone. Like her in Sophocles’ play, he seeks to convince the authorities to give his brother a dignified funeral. Rachid Hami constructs his film by alternating present action with the past. The parallel editing allows you to explore at the same time the links between Ishmael and his brother, and the reasons for his stubbornness in obtaining the recognition of the military authorities in his regard. The two narratives carried out simultaneously make it possible to justify the mission in which Ishmael has embarked.
The feeling that emerges puts back to back the moderate opinions of the mother and her new husband in the face of Ishmael’s stubbornness, and the army’s embarrassment in minimizing the facts. She will have the last word, leaving a bitter taste in the family. Between the two: the turbulent story of two brothers, one of whom lives by getting by and the other carried by a fanatical patriotic faith for France which, in the end, will stick a knife in his back. Complex and balanced in the feelings it exposes, and fascinating in its remarkably written and filmed story by Rachid Hami, For France touches the heart and the spirit.
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Gender : Drama
Director: Rachid Hami
Actors: Karim Leklou, Shain Boumedine, Lubna Azabal, Samir Guesmi, Laurent Lafitte, Slimane Dazi
Duration : 1h53
Exit : February 8 2023
Distributer : Memento Distribution
Summary: During an integration ritual in the prestigious Military School of Saint-Cyr, Aïssa, 23, loses her life. Faced with an Army struggling to recognize its responsibilities, Ishmael, his big brother, embarks on a battle for the truth. His investigation into the course of his younger brother will bring back his memories, from their childhood in Algiers to the last moments together in Taipei.
Based on a true story by Jallal Hami.LKGN