Cinema
The Citadel
La Citadelle
Mohamed Chouikh · 1989
Synopsis
In El Kalaa, an imaginary village governed by polygamy, men and women live separated by walls. Sidi, a notable of the village, already has three wives. Kaddour, his adopted son, a dreamer who cannot find his place in this society, falls in love with the cobbler's wife and hardly hides it, to the great scandal of the community. The elders then decide to teach him a lesson by forcing him into marriage.
Context
The film portrays a closed patriarchal society, and critics have read it as a bitter denunciation of hypocrisy, tyranny, polygamy and the oppression of women. Shot in Arabic, it brings together Khaled Barkat, Djilali Ain-Tedeles and Fettouma Ousliha, under the lighting of Allel Yahyaoui. Its running time varies according to the sources, from an hour and a half to more than two hours, and so does its date: 1988 for the production, 1989 for its presentation at several festivals.
Who it is for
A film in subtitled Arabic, easy to approach, which depicts a patriarchal society in the form of an increasingly cruel farce.
Prizes and reception
About twenty prizes, including the Golden Unicorn at Amiens and the prize for best cinematography at the Fespaco of 1989; the film that made its director known abroad.
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