La fille de Keltoum

As part of First Run Features Global Film Initiative, "Daughter of Keltoum" is a worthy if far from perfect entry by Algerian film-maker Mehdi Charef, who has lived in France since the age of 10. It is an exploration of the class and gender oppression facing the Kabyle peoples, the Algerian branch of the Berber nationality that lives primarily in the mountainous region of the north.

It is focused on the relationship between Rallia (Cylia Malki), a 19 year old Kabyle who was adopted by Swiss parents as an infant, and her aunt Nedjma (Baya Belal). Rallia has returned to the village where she was born in search of her mother, who is now working as a hotel maid in a distant city. She is also in search of answers to the question of why her mother gave her up.

If Rallia does not understand why, the viewer certainly will. This is a land of grinding poverty, where women are treated as beast of burden. Nejma is in awe of Switzerland where water is readily available from a tap. In her village, she fills up plastic tanks from a remote well and trudges back several times a day. Nejma, who appears to have been driven half-mad by poverty, has very few pleasures in life other than a occasional visit from Rallia's mother, who brings candy and trinkets for the family. In a nearby abandoned religious shrine, Nejma has constructed her own altar out of empty cigarette packs and other colorful but worthless items found on the road beneath the village.

full: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2006/06/10/daughter-of-keltoum/

BENT KELTOUM is movie storytelling at its most powerful. It overcame many flaws. There were unexplained irrational elements, the characters may not have spoken in regionally accurate dialect, and some of the violent and sexist action may have been overdone; however, the actors fully disappeared into their roles and relationships, and the plot moved forward blending incidents into a coherent and satisfying narrative. The characters Nejma and the Repudiated Woman were particularly interesting. The visuals authentically supported the narrative and illuminated the characters. Shooting this film on location can't have been easy, but the result is rewarding.

This is a fabulous film depicting a young woman's journey back to the country of her birth in search of her mother. On this trip through the Moroccan deserts, she learns as much about this foreign country as she does about her family and herself.

A series of twisting and turning events draws her through encounters with a vast array of characters.

Superb cinematography rounds off an excellent script which has been convincingly cast and beautifully acted. The delicate soundtrack complements the film perfectly.

This is a moving film which will leave you thinking about the storyline for a long time!

Watch this to see what life is about in another part of the world and how it is no respecter of persons. You either rise to what it takes to live in this region of the world or you sink in it. For those that do give it a go and work it, they then want what everyone else wants out of life anywhere. To love and be loved. At some point in the movie, fasten your seat belt because your emotions are going to kidnap you without warning. I didn't see it coming and it had me so choked up I let go with a sob for the depth and poignant way of how love was sent and received and words were not the catalyst either. Life is a love driven event and this movie makes the point. When it ends, your life begins richer and deeper for having seen this movie...Have a tasty drink and a light snack plus...Kleenex on stand-by...

In Australia, the film's title is Bent Keltoum. In the contemporary world of Middle-Eastern fear and terrorism, things like class and sexism have taken a back-seat. In this film though, the main character, whilst leaving Belgium for Tunisia in her quest to find her birth mother and the truth behind her adoption, she finds herself struggling to cope in this foreign society. If the desolate and harsh mountains weren't enough to end her quest prematurely, she often encountered other surprising situations. Sexist lore, from her small isolated birth-village, neighboring towns, and even "Westernised" tourist meccas, constantly demean the value of women, as far as current Western values are concerned. The main character struggles with this concept throughout the film. True to "road trip" movies, her journey takes on unforeseeable twists, right to the end. This makes it entertaining, but also the whites of your eyes will show as you are surprised and disgusted with the sexist and cultural damnation of women in Tunisia - and I am a guy! This movie played late-night on television after midnight, but kept me glued to the very end, and I think you, especially if you are a young determined woman, will surely be too.