Massacres, kidnappings and attacks� since the end of the 80�s, Algeria has witnessed a war pitting brother against brother. The country, which is an experimental terrain for international Islam, is struggling in the midst of chaos. Using archive footage and previously unseen documents, this trilogy sheds light on a human, political and economic tragedy, centering around its main protagonists on a day-to-day basis.
The trilogy allows us to understand how, a quarter of a century after the war of independence ended, leaving scars on both sides of the Mediterranean, Algeria has been plunged into an endless conflict, with violence which is both unprecedented, and unpredictable.
For the first time, members of the government of the time and those who opposed the regime, soldiers and policemen in charge of the fight against terrorism, as well as founders of the FIS, the Islamic Front for Salvation, and the GIA, the Armed Islamic Group, accept the invitation to talk candidly about what they see as their truth.
The first episode in the trilogy sets the context, and summarizes the political, economic and social situation of the country at the end of the 80�s. Having governed with total power for 25 years, and seeing its influence start to wane, the FLN, National Liberation Front, decided to take the regime down the road of reform and democracy. But the Algerian governors minimized the influence of Islamists, who quickly became hegemonic. In the second part, we see the FIS join the combat, when in 1992 they were deprived of their election victory, and began a fight to install an Islamic State. This power struggle, widely documented in the third part, pulled Algeria steadily towards barbarity and chaos.

Photos

Credits

Directed by

S�verine Labat & Malik A�t-Aoudia

Produced by

Cie des phares et balises, France 5, France 3

Technical information

Copyright :

2003

Running time:

3 x 52 minutes

Broadcasts :

France 5 (10/05/2003), France 3 (02/15/2005)

Press reviews

�Exceptional� - LE PARISIEN, broadsheet

�An exceptional document� � MARIANNE, political journal
�When television shows itself to be more concerned with explaining than judging, the way this does, then it is beyond compare.� � T�L�CIN�OBS, film and TV guide