Reviewed by Sunchica Unevska
Towards the documentary “Nardjes A.” directed by: Karim Ainouz, Algeria/France/Germany/Brazil, 2020
The struggle for the naked life is not a phrase
The Algerian film “Narges A.” brings the story that is momentarily the most current in the world, the story of all those people who are on the verge of losing their country, to lose everything that is sacred to them, what gives them belonging and fulfillment, what makes them proud and ready for anything for his people and his family. In them you recognize all those people who wander around the world today, not because of their own fault, but because they lost their homeland, because wars have been fought in their countries for years, because everything that has been built over the years, those beautiful old countries with a huge culture and heritage, they lost everything and their inhabitants today not belong nowhere. Even, everyone closes the doors to those so-called migrants (which, unfortunately, took on a derogatory meaning), who do not have their own home and who are trying to start all over again anywhere, just to find some peace and stability for their families.
Somebody, who has not experienced this hardly can understand what all these people are facing, expelled and forced to leave their homes, because here is not only existential security, but also dignity, loss of integrity and belonging, loss of hope and lack of exit. Desperate are their attempts and actions to protect their loved ones and start life from scratch. Somehow, although the story of Nardjes is not like that, still, it is read between the lines, it reads the desire to stay on your own, that you love your country, that your ancestors fought for her, that good people live in there, that you want to fight for a better life, for the one you really deserve, but here where you belong, surrounded by those you love.
On her way to the place where the demonstrations have been held for three weeks, Nardjes thinks about that, that she would not want to leave her country, here are her friends, here is the force that moves her, here is everything that is known and close to her, here is everything she has always believed in and she wants to fight for. The film was shot in one day, on March 8, with a smartphone and a moving camera with which the Brazilian-Algerian director Karim Ainouz manages to penetrate so well into the psychology of Nardjes and through it to capture the spirit of the people and those demonstrations, which mean literally everything to people. It's the moment when people believe they can change something, it's the moment when adults are here to fight for their children's future, it's the moment of hope, when the strikers are happy and full of strength because they believe that now is the moment for change.
Nardjes narrate how her mother was born in prison, how long her grandfather spent time in prison, how her parents and grandparents always taught her to fight for the truth, not to accept injustice and to seek a better life. She remind how happy, proud and dignified Algerians were, when they fought for their independence in 1962 and although there were many broken promises and an authoritarian regime later, they still believe in democracy, fighting to say Algeria is a democratic republic, not a kingdom, and they are prepared not to allow their president to run for a fifth mandate. These demonstrations take place in 2019 and although they did not solve the problems, they still succeeded in their intention the President to waive the request for a new mandate.
The way she was carried away by the whole atmosphere is amazing and the belief that the people are on the right path and that they must be brave and persistent, to endure. In those moments, Nardjes is reminded of the time when she was growing up, which was actually marked by the so-called a black decade, when many civilians were killed by Islamist groups. The situation was terrible, whole families were disappearing, but now in this people which we see on the streets we feel hope, we feel the enthusiasm with which they sing the songs, we see the friendship, the support and the expectation that better times for the young people in Algeria must come. Yes, they are the force that will bring the changes, they are the ones who should take power, as one mother says, it is high time for adults to give up their seats to young people.
But, when it gets dark and the euphoria subsides, you hear Nardjes talking to her mother, until she can stop the tears, when the feeling of uncertainty and fear prevails, but not so much for herself, but for her friends with whom every night they listen to see if they are numbered, if they are good, if someone is injured or arrested, if someone is missing. No, they have no fear, but they have powerlessness, there is a pain from that condition that lasts, there is a feeling of hopelessness, of humiliation, because with nothing they did not deserve what are happening to them. After talking to her friends and rushing to the place of the scheduled meeting, Nardjes begins to recite their song which speaks precisely about the readiness to keep the true values, the readiness to seek freedom, to fight for everything that means to them and to brings the essentiality in their living. She is also a member of the amateur theater, where in all these conditions they prepare the play called “Freedom”, showing the readiness of the new generations to continue the struggle of their parents, their ancestors, to preserve everything that defines them, everything what is worth living and dying for.
No, Nardjes does not want to live anywhere else, it is her country, her people, her present and history, they are the same ones whose destiny is so deeply connected and whose roots give you the meaning, the quest, the pain and the essence, without them the things lose their face. Those roots are the ones that keep you firmly on the ground, those roots are the ones that give you strength, direction, courage, those roots give you the definition of where you belong, that feeling without which you tremble like a leaf in the wind. That is why these young people do not leave, they do not even sleep, their struggle, their community, their care for each other continues, whether on the streets or not.
They are aware that things will not just disappear, that nothing will be solved overnight, they are aware of their victims, they are aware of the uncertainty and insecurity, they are aware that it is the kind of struggle that may never end, but it certainly contributes to things moving, it contributes to seeking and believing in hope, in the future. It is not by chance that the author dedicates this film to his grandfather, it is not by chance he draws this bridge, this overflowing struggle, it is not by chance he is able to capture the atmosphere so well and cause hair-raise in your body. Although there is no violence in the film, it is felt in the air, you read it between the lines, it is an atmosphere of fear and anticipation, an atmosphere that shows all the verve and readiness in the fight, but also all the bitterness and pain because of tomorrow.
“Nardjes A.” is a great film, dedicated to those people who can not enjoy their youth, to those people who, despite the struggle of their grandfathers, again have to seek the same rights and freedoms, who must fight for the same reasons, who must to look for the same values over and over again, so they can keep what they carry inside, what determines them, what they want to preserve at all costs. “Nardjes A.” is a story about all the young people around the world who are trying to live and find the meaning of their existence, but who unfortunately, instead of the essential, have to fight for basic rights, so that they can go on that much desired life journey, which in order of things they should have and bring them a challenge, not sadness, struggle and fear still faced with questions of survival. Like yours, like your family, so does his country, because it is a fact that it is not the same where you are, the roots and the affiliation are something completely different, without them no matter how hard you try, you can not keep the whole. At least not the one in which you recognize yourself, in which the feeling is different and which knows how to bring peace and tranquility in all the troubles and temptations of life.