The Incendiary Post-Colonial Cinema Of Rachid Bouchareb

Bouchared’s poignant depiction of the suffering of these soldiers and the deeply discriminatory military establishment offered a prism through which to examine the modern day discrimination of immigrants in France. His film had a profound impact on public discourse in France, and helped to bring about a change in the way North African veterans were viewed.
Many of Bouchared’s other films also look at discrimination and the negotiation of cultural difference in changing societies, as well as the chaotic and often violent legacy of colonialism. Outside the Law, a standalone sequel to Days of Glory, depicts the Algerian struggle for independence from France. The story follows three Algerian brothers who, following the Sétif massacre in 1945, go to France to become freedom fighters.

The sweeping historical epic follows the course of their battle for independence over the next few decades. The film was attacked by some in the French media for its inflammatory depiction of certain events in the battle for Algerian independence. While the film is wilfully and explicitly partisan and makes no attempt to be a historically accurate depiction, there’s no denying the righteous anger it provokes in the viewer.
London River (2009) saw Bouchared depart from the Algerian-French conflict and instead focus on cultural and ethnic entanglements of a different sort. London River portrays the coming together of individuals from two very different cultural backgrounds, a mother from Guernsey and a father from Mali, who now lives in France and are united in their search for their respective missing children following the 7/7 bombings in London. They are both bewildered by multicultural London, but find that their common purpose dispels whatever friction their various cultural differences may provoke.