Masquerades

Mounir Mekbek lives with his family in a small village far out in the Algerian countryside. Both proud and confident, he dreams of one day getting the respect he deserves from the other villagers. But it is far from ideal to be saddled with a stubborn narcoleptic sister who constantly ruins the image he attempts to establish for himself. Rym falls asleep anywhere and the neighbours are convinced that she will remain unmarried forever. Fed up with people making fun of his sister, Mounir comes home drunk one evening, hollering all over the village that he has found a suitor for his sister. The lies accumulate and suddenly Rym is engaged to an imaginary rich foreign businessman. Preparations for the wedding start but without a groom in sight. The strength of this amusing comedy lies in the performances but also in a screenplay that draws upon the situation comedy of classic theatre. In addition to the marvellous humour, it is also liberating to see an Algerian film that does not, as the director himself puts it, primarily talk about the difficulty of being from Algeria. tlå