Rachida

Certainly this film opened my eyes to just how horrendously violent the seemingly endless low- level civil war in Algeria in the 1990s was.

Rachida is a young, free-spirited teacher just trying to live her life when terrorists shoot her after she refuses to carry a bomb into her school for them. She survives, but has to flee Algiers to hide in a small town in the countryside. She is traumatized and afraid, but slowly tries to re- build her life, at the same time violence continues to take an ever deeper hold even in her new small town.

But while the subject is important and the intentions are admirable, the film is hampered by weak acting that tends to both the stiff and the overwrought, characters who can lapse into cliché, along with a sub-plots that feels awkward in its attempts at comic relief.

I wish the quality of story-telling could have lived up to the value of the issues being raised, but I'm still glad I saw it.

After Algeria won independence from France, a single party dominated the government for almost thirty years. When the Algerian people voted it out, the government nullified the election, leading to a civil war. Yamina Bachir's "Rachida" is set during the civil war. The movie's main point is that the protagonist simply wants to live her life even as terrorist gangs roam the streets. A lot of what happens in the movie reminds me of what we now hear about happening in Mexico. People keep thinking that it's possible to militarily defeat the amorphous tactic that is terrorism.

It's a good look at the sorts of things that happened in Algeria during the 1990s. Part of the thing is that I like it when movies show cultures that we don't often get to see. I hope to see more of Yamina Bachir's movies.

Interesting subject matter, though as a film I found 'Rachida' a bit flat.

Ibtissem Djouadi leads the cast well enough, though I wasn't invested in any of the characters onscreen. The story also felt a tad repetitive and lacking in progression. The pacing is fine, yet due to the aforementioned it does a drag in a few places - though the short 93 minute run time helps in that regard.

Not a bad film one bit, but it just isn't one that I clicked with.

"Rachida" uses a pretty, young school teacher, the title character, as the centerpiece of this story which spends most of its time looking at the problems which beset Algeria in the 1990s when the country was struggling with civil war. This testament by its female Algerian director digs into life as a woman in the Sunni Muslim patriarchal culture and the day to day living with anxiety and fear as bands of guerrilla thugs roam the streets. As a subtitled foreign film with obvious budget limitations, location constraints, a first directorial outing, a cast of unknowns, and an story which pales when compared with Rwanda, for example, "Rachida" will go overlooked by most. However, for those with an interest in Algeria or stories about women trying to wrest happiness from a class culture in turmoil, "Rachida" should be worth a look. (C+)

Rachida is a very good film about the daily life of young Algerian woman during the black decade !! After the accident Rachida flees Algiers.Then we follow Rachida in her new life in a small town in the country and the violence appears also in this new place. The description of this climate of religious fanatism and of insecurity is excellent. The film is based on a true story and Yamina Bachir is a very good director. I would like to mention also the excellent performance of Ibtissem Djouadi as Rachida.