Algeria, Arabic, French - 100 min
Feature Narrative
TOTAL BUDGET
US $2,647,885
CONFIRMED FINANCING
US $166,685
Primary Contact
djaberdebzi@gmail.com
+213556695968
Algeria, April 2019, and the Revolution of Smiles is underway. At the same time, Réda Belamri—son of a high dignitary—commits a massacre at the national petroleum company, Sonapeg, which is the largest in the country. An investigation ensues.
A massacre is perpetrated within Sonapeg. Réda, a young executive from the company, confesses to being the perpetrator of the crimes. The police commissioner, Azzedine, subjects Réda to an interrogation, which immerses him in his family history: Youcef Belamri, Sonapeg's former director and his father; Zohra, his mother; and Fayçal, his older brother who went into exile to escape paternal pressure. Réda remembers the patriarch who had organized everything in his life, from finding him a job in the company, all the way to presenting him his chosen bride.
Soon enough, Youcef must get rid of an annoying colleague. In this power struggle, and in order to keep his job, Réda must perform his compulsory military service. Unfortunately, not everything is going as planned there, and Réda gets raped. When Youcef dies, it is time for Réda to return and go back to work. But, he quickly realizes that he has lost his privileges of yesteryear. He is laid off. At this time, his first obliteration occurs, and the mirror no longer shows him his reflection.
From then on, his psychiatrist recommends him a retreat in the desert. There, he meets Malika. Love blossoms between the two. This new romance fills Réda with happiness, and allows him to find his reflection in the mirror again. Unfortunately, Réda is quickly caught up in his work-related problems. He must return to Algiers, leaving behind the woman he loves.
Obliteration, in the context of the popular uprising that Algeria has been experiencing since 2019, proposes to narrate the movement of madness of the ruling class and its heritage to the young generations.
Through the story of Réda Belamri, son of Youcef Belamri—an authoritarian figure and high dignitary—it is this heritage that is put to the test. In an atavistic reflex, Youcef believes that he must transfer his values and privileges to his children.
The seemingly ideal life of Réda turns out to be nothing more than a golden cage, where he cannot take flight. Tried and tested by parental orders and undergoing a series of humiliations, he will end up in a movement of madness by committing crimes. An investigation is opened. That is, in a reverse movement, what will immerse us in this story, mixing thriller and fantasy.
In addition to this chronological structure and the metamorphosis of Réda, other elements of staging will reinforce the story; such as the phenomenon of obliteration, when Réda loses his reflection in the mirror, and how the omnipotent patriarch's ghost haunts him.
Finally, Réda will only be able to assert himself when he is far from his environment. Sadly, his past of hindrances catches up with him, leading him back to the worst.
My cinematic adventure with Karim Moussaoui dates back to his multi-award-winning medium-length film, The Days Before (2013). After that, I co-produced his first feature narrative Until the Birds Return (2017), which was selected at the 70th Cannes Film Festival.
Today, and as in his previous films, Moussaoui invites us to explore a piece of Algeria through a deeply human story, in which the intimate and the collective mingle.
Obliteration is the story of a slice of the young generation fooled by the founding myths and the national narrative; a tale of impediments, where personal desires and social injunctions collide. It is also the story of a failed transmission, which created gaps and blanks in the collective and individual memories. How can we break free from the social shackles, deal with this ‘embarrassing’ heritage, and defend alterity?
As in all of Moussaoui’s films, Obliteration does not provide answers. It questions, takes side roads, and offers food for thought. Through a strong narrative and original elements of staging, Moussaoui, I believe, offers us a promising film with a potentially universal reach.
All these aspects make me want to produce this film and bring it to the screen. More than ever, in Algeria, and in this sensitive moment, we need to create our own images so as not to know the obliteration.
2019: Miss
2017: Until the Birds Return
2016: Atlal