Jamila, the Algerian

Djamila is a young woman living in the Casbah district of Algiers. Her brother Hadi and her uncle Mustafa share the house with her. The country is under French occupation. She sees the injustice and the cruelty around her every day. One day French soldiers raid her university. They have come to arrest her classmate Amina. The young woman takes her own life. That event hardens Djamila’s decision. Soon afterwards a wanted resistance leader takes shelter in their house. That is how she learns her uncle is part of the network. He puts her in touch with the National Liberation Front. She joins operations against the occupation and is eventually caught. She is tortured in custody, and the film does not go into detail. Despite her French lawyer’s efforts she is sentenced to death. The film was made while the war was still going on and it is openly on the side of independence. Magda Al Sabahi and Ahmed Mazhar appear in the hundred and twenty three minute film, an Egyptian production Youssef Chahine finished in 1958.