Terrific lead characterizations and edgy camerawork hold their own against a problematic script in Mounia Meddour’s feature debut “Papicha.” This is a film designed to be championed by everyone wanting to support a woman’s right to self-expression: It’s got a female director (not a novelty in the Maghreb), depicts powerful young women refusing to bow down to fundamentalism, and is bursting with energy and likable figures. Yet the screenplay’s seams show so glaringly, and the finish is so tonally mismatched, that notwithstanding audience identification and the inevitable “loosely inspired by real events” tagline, “Papicha” feels conspicuously manipulative. That shouldn’t stall further fest play and Francophone distribution following the film’s Cannes premiere, though sales farther afield may prove more of a challenge.
The setting is Algiers in the 1990s, when the nation was roiled in a bloody civil war that pitted the less-than-democratic government against an increasingly violent Islamist insurgency.
The setting is Algiers in the 1990s, when the nation was roiled in a bloody civil war that pitted the less-than-democratic government against an increasingly violent Islamist insurgency.
- 5/18/2019
- by Jay Weissberg
- Variety Film + TV
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