''Jamila, the Algerian'' is a 1958

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

ian historical film about one of the most important figures in the history of

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

Djamila Bouhired Djamila Bouhired ( ar, جميلة بوحيرد, born c. 1935) is an Algerian militant. Bouhired is a nationalist who opposed the French colonial rule of Algeria. She was raised in a middle-class family by a Tunisian mother and an Algerian father ...

. The film was produced by

Youssef Chahine Youssef Chahine ( ar, يوسف شاهين, Yūsuf Shāhīn ; 25 January 1926 – 27 July 2008) was an Egyptians, Egyptian film director. He was active in the Cinema of Egypt, Egyptian film industry from 1950 until his death. He directed twel ...

and written by Abd al-Rahman, Ali al-Zarqani, and

Naguib Mahfouz Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha ( arz, نجيب محفوظ عبد العزيز ابراهيم احمد الباشا, ; 11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature. ...

. The film is regarded as not only highlighting the story of an important female revolutionary, but also showing the struggle of the Algerian people against the French occupation. The film stars

Magda Magda is a feminine given name, sometimes a short form ( hypocorism) of names such as Magdalena, which may refer to: * Magda Apanowicz (born 1985), Canadian actress * Magda B. Arnold (1903–2002), Czechoslovakian-born American psychologist * M ...

Salah Zulfikar Salah El Din Ahmed Mourad Zulfikar ( ar, صلاح ذو الفقار; ; 18 January 1926 – 22 December 1993) was an Egyptian actor and film producer. He started his career as a police officer in the Egyptian National Police, before becoming an ac ...

and

Ahmed Mazhar Ahmed Hafez Mazhar ( ar, أحمد حافظ مظهر, ʾAḥmad Ḥāfeẓ Mazāhar; 8 October 1917 – 8 May 2002) was an Egyptian actor. He graduated from the military academy in 19381954 revolution. The film was released only a year after the torture and arrest of Djamila Bouhired, and it was banned by the Algerian government for decades. Despite this, Chahine's first explicitly political film managed to galvanize wide solidarity with the Algerian resistance from across the

Arab World The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

, starting in Egypt. ''Jamila, the Algerian'' is listed in the Top 100 films in history of Egyptian Cinema''.''

Plot

DJamila Jamila ( ar, جميلة) is a feminine given name of Arabic origin. It is the feminine form of the masculine Arabic given name Jamil, which comes from the Arabic word ''jamāl'' (Arabic: جَمَال), meaning beauty. The name is popular on a glo ...

is a young Algerian woman living with her brother Hadi and uncle Mustafa in the

Casbah A kasbah (, also ; ar, قَـصَـبَـة, qaṣaba, lit=fortress, , Maghrebi Arabic: ), also spelled qasba, qasaba, or casbah, is a fortress A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territo ...

neighborhood of

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

during the French occupation of Algeria. as she sees the full extent of injustice, tyranny, and cruelty unleashed on her compatriots at the hands of the French soldiers. Although early on she questions whether her country's resources truly belong to the people of Algeria, Djamila's nationalist spirit is truly awakened when she witnesses French forces invade her university and attempt to arrest her classmate Amina, due to her involvement with an Algerian resistance organization, before Amina commits suicide through ingesting poison. Soon after, prominent Algerian guerrilla leader Yusef takes refuge in her home, prompting further intrigue by Djamila. Only then does she realize that her friend Azzam and her uncle Mustafa is a part of this anti-colonial network of rebel fighters. After insisting on joining the ranks of Algerian guerrilla fighters, her uncle connects her with the National Liberation Front (FLN). A series of events illustrate Jamila's participation in militant operations against the French before she is eventually wounded and captured by the French Colonel Béjart. The majority of the remainder of the film focuses on the physical and psychological torture she endures for refusing to give the names of the other guerrilla fighters. Ultimately, despite the efforts of her French lawyer, Djamila is sentenced to death following her violent interrogation.

Cast

as Azzam *

Ahmed Mazhar Ahmed Hafez Mazhar ( ar, أحمد حافظ مظهر, ʾAḥmad Ḥāfeẓ Mazāhar; 8 October 1917 – 8 May 2002) was an Egyptian actor. He graduated from the military academy in 1938Zahrat El-Ola as Bou-Azza *

Rushdy Abaza Rushdy Saiid El Bughdady Abaza ( arz, رشدي سعيد البوغدادي أباظة) (3 August 1926 – 27 July 1980) was an Egyptian film and television actor. He was considered one of the most charming actors in the Egyptian film industry. He ...

as Colonel Béjart *Kariman as Hassiba *Farida Fahmy as Simone *

Hussein Riad Hussein Mohamed Shafiq ( ar, حسين محمد شفيق, more commonly known by his stage name Hussein Riad ( ar, حسين رياض , (1897–1965) was an Egyptian actor, who mainly played "dad roles". His career spanned about 46 years and he appe ...

as Justice Habib *

Mahmoud El-Meliguy Mahmoud el-Meliguy ( arz, محمود المليجي, ; 22 December 1910 – 6 June 1983) was an Egyptian screenwriter and an actor of film, theater, and television. He started his career playing minor roles, but achieved stardom in the late 1 ...

as French Lawyer *Fakher Fakher as Mustafa Bouhired *

Adly Kasseb Adly Kasseb عدلى كاسب (full name: Adly Abdel Hamid Kasseb) (April 21, 1918 – September 13, 1978) was an Egyptian actor who acted in many movies and plays. His talent was recognized since he was a child and has grown over the years. H ...

as Leader of the Algerian Resistance *Suleiman El-Gindi as Hadi Bouhired *

Nadia Al-Gindi Nadia Elgendi (Also written as Nadia El Gendi; arz, ناديه الجندى) (born 1940 in Khta Alexandria) is an Egyptian actress and producer. She is often known in Egypt as ''"Negmet El gamaheer"'' (the star of masses) because of the high c ...

as Silent actress

Themes

While the 1966 film ''The Battle of Algiers'', released eight years after Chahine's film, has received criticism for portraying a gendered iconography and misrepresentation of Algerian "mujahidat" (female freedom fighter), ''Jamila, the Algerian'' is regarded as the first and only film to focus solely on the role of the women only mentioned in other multimedia projects. In fact, Djamila Bouhired is only one of three women briefly shown in ''The Battle of Algiers''. Chahine's film paints the Algerian struggle against French occupation through one of many lenses of its gendered narrative, focusing a large portion of the film around the rape and torture of Djamila Bouhired

Reception

Support from Egyptian Government

The film was released during Egypt's pan-Arab

Nasserist Nasserism ( ) is an Arab nationalist and Arab socialist political ideology based on the thinking of Gamal Abdel Nasser, one of the two principal leaders of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, and Egypt's second President. Spanning the domestic a ...

era, when the culmination of pan-Arab sentiment allowed filmmakers like Chahine to take on large-scale production of projects that would positively portray revolutionary Arab leaders like Nasser. With the government's signing of the nonalignment pact of 1955, the Egyptian

nationalization of the Suez Canal The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

in 1956, and the Algerian revolution, the context allowed Chahine to contribute to the cultivation of the indigenous Third Worldist, anti-colonial rhetoric displayed in the film.

Banning of the film in Algeria

Despite the fact that the film was seminal to gathering support from other Arab countries against the French, the film was banned in Algeria both under French occupation and post-independence. Some believe this was due to Djamila Bouhired's marriage to French lawyer

Jacques Vergès Jacques Vergès (5 March 1925 – 15 August 2013) was a Siamese-born French lawyer and anti-colonial activist. Vergès began as a fighter in the French Resistance during World War II, under Charles de Gaulle's Free French forces. After becoming ...

, but others believe this was a tactic on the part of the Algerian government to further silence both the heroic role of women in the revolution and the highlighting of rape and torture in their narratives.

References

{{Reflist 1950s Arabic-language films 1950s historical films 1958 films Algerian War films Courtroom films Egyptian biographical drama films Egyptian historical films Egyptian war films Films about capital punishment Films directed by Youssef Chahine Films set in Algiers Films set in the French colonial empire Guerrilla warfare in film Women in revolutions Algeria–Egypt relations