The film Rachida is one of the few recent treatments of contemporary Algeria widely available to western viewers.* As such, it's incredibly important.
The first portion of the film explores the difficult social/political circumstances faced by everyday people during the civil strife of the 1990s, such as curfews and water rationing. Rachida (based on a real woman) is wounded during a confrontation with a group of young -- what's the appropriate word? -- terrorists, criminals...? The film leaves their affiliation unknown; Rachida's attackers wear hip clothes rather than robes and beards, a significant point for western viewers to consider.
During the second half of the film, Rachida and her mother relocate to the countryside in hopes that she'll be able to heal there. Unfortunately, they encounter a different set of predators outside the city. Again, affiliations are ambiguous. (I assume that this was intentional on the part of Bachir-Chouikh, maybe as a reflection of how complex the conflicts of the 90s were... no clear matter of religion vs secular government, Us vs Them, etc.)
Overall, the director seemed to want to emphasize the sad (yet hopeful) condition of the children, and the fearful paralysis experienced by the populace at large in the face of terror.
Not easy to watch, but nicely done and worth seeing.
Elizabeth ("fullmoonblue")
* -- It's a bit more recent than Merzak Allouache's Bab el-Oued, and set in Algeria rather than France such as films like La Haine, or Yamina Benguigui's Inchallah Dimanche.
