Inland

With Inland director Tariq Teguia provides a highly personal portrait of modern Algeria; a fragmented society that appears to have trouble finding its way into a new age.

Malek, a topographer, is sent on a mission to bring electricity to a village in Algeria’s desolated inland, a dangerous area where you can still feel the presence of terrorism. From the worn-down container where he lives, he can hear land mines go off during the night, but aside from that the days are generally uneventful – until he discovers a young woman in the container, the sole survivor of a group of illegal immigrants on their way to Spain.

Using a markedly slow pace, Teguia lets the viewer physically feel the hesitant lack of direction and creates distance with flat images, unusual framings and large panoramas of barren landscapes. He contrast this, however, by cutting to animated debates from the underground political scene – but it is only words that are raging, and no apparant action in sight. Events are also conveyed in a distanced and fragmented manner as we are given small glimpses of the Algerian society – from herdsmen and oil workers to the police and other officials. The feeling of a period of upheaval is emphasised by the music, which ranges from rock to traditional raï. rfa