Film review
Bledi, This is Our Home
Algeria was a country we never studied in any of our geography or history classes. As proof of my ignorance, when I heard of Algeria, I though it was a rich, small, and quaint European country. So imagine my surprise when Bulatlat sent me to watch the public screening of the documentary film, “Bledi, This is Our Home” (Bledi, being Arabic for “my home”) at Cinekatipunan at Mag:net Cafe in Katipunan. Only then would I learn about Algeria and struggles of its people to find a home.
BY TRINA FEDERIS
Bulatlat
Algeria was a country we never studied in any of our geography or history classes. As proof of my ignorance, when I heard of Algeria, I though it was a rich, small, and quaint European country.
So imagine my surprise when Bulatlat sent me to watch the public screening of the documentary film, “Bledi, This Is Our Home” (Bledi, being Arabic for “my home”) at Cinekatipunan at Mag:net Cafe in Katipunan.
I was told that the film, directed by activist-filmmakers Malcolm Guy and Eylem Kaftan, was about Algerian refugees in Canada. Bewildered, I kept on wondering why Algerians would want to flee the European continent (because I thought that was where Algeria was located) for Canada. Only after watching the film would I learn about Algeria and its people.
My home, this is my home
The French film “Bledi, This Is Our Home” (53 minutes) starts with a shot of a busy street and a woman narrating in French. She talked about Algeria's history and the reasons why Algerians fled their country for Canada. Refugees from Algeria began arriving in Canada during the civil war in 1991. Many were refused refugee status, but were allowed to stay in Canada, due to the war. They became “no-status Algerians,” unable to find work or send their children to school.
Eleven years later in 2002 and after Canadian Immigration Minister Denis Codere visited Algeria, the Canadian government deemed it time to repatriate the refugees back to their homeland. The Canadian government concluded that the conflict between the Algerian government and Islamic forces has simmered down and it was safe for the refugees to return. Because of this decision, a thousand Algerians faced deportation.
But the Algerians did not want to return. Throughout the years, they sent Codere letters describing their hardships because of their status (or lack thereof) in Canada and pleading that they be accepted as citizens. Most of them, they said, had already adapted to the Canadian way of life and felt like Canadians. Others gave birth to their children in Canada and raised them as Canadians.
 FIGHTING FOR HOME: Arab children in a rally scene from Bledi |
They also called up his office. But the minister refused to respond. With their situation getting more and more desperate, the Algerians finally decided to pay him a personal visit. However, they were denied an audience with the minister and barred from entering the premises. Thus, prompting them to hold a protest action in front of the building. As part of the protest action, some men (composed of non-status Algerians and their supporters) occupied the office of Codere. The police immediately subdued the men and arrested eleven of them. Another scene showed the men being repeatedly pushed against the wall. The scene was disturbing because these were taken from actual footages. It showed how vicious law enforcement could be. |
The next scene showed the protesters resting in a park while being interviewed. It was a sunny day and ugly bruises showed on their bodies.
In 2004, Mohamed Cherif, a non-status Algerian, received a deportation order. Instead of taking this sitting down, he chose to fight it, and sought refuge in a church in Quebec. He was apprehended inside the church and was deported to the U.S. to be jailed.
A fruitful struggle
For theses refugees, this kind of treatment by the Canadian government was a “double whammy.” They went to Canada in search of a sanctuary, only to be refused. When they went in anyway, they experienced state brutality. Their illusion of Canada as a sort of Nirvana shattered into pieces.
However, all was not lost. A year later, hundreds of non-status Algerians as well as their supporters, marched from Ottawa to Montreal to push for the enactment of a law providing for the regularization of non-status Algerians. The march turned out to be a success as most were allowed to become full-fledged Canadians.
Fifteen months later, Cherif was released from jail. Currently, he is waiting for his citizenship papers.
In 2006, the eleven men arrested for mischief were also set free.
Novelty
The camera shots were not “stiff” and were shot from different angles giving the impression that the director was always on the move, wanting to be in the thick of things.
The protest action scenes were well-done. Usually, in films, protest actions looked stiff and weak. But in the film, even if one could not understand what was written in the banners and placards, one could see the agony in the faces of the ralliers and feel the tension in the air. It's as if the viewer was in the middle of the protest action.
There were some novel ideas used too. In showing the arrest of Cherif, the camera focused on the television coverage of the arrest (still askew in the camera's frame of course). This created the impression that the audience was sitting with Cherif’s family who were watching his arrest on television.
To indicate how Cherif was taken, the camera focused on his bed. His bedclothes were thrown off his bed and his belongings were in disarray. This helps, especially for viewers who do not understand French.
The use of sunsets as transition to indicate the passage of time was executed wondrously.
Behind the scenes
According to Malcolm Guy, who is based in Montreal, Canada, they made the film in order to show what happens in Canada “when the cameras are not there.” Being a social activist, he believes that such issues should be brought to the surface. He wants the people to understand that Canada is not exempt from the economic conditions of other countries, essentially a capitalist one, with low wages. It's far from ideal.
He says that Canada may seem more democratic than the Philippines. There, according to him, political leaders and activists are not killed because of their convictions. However, he continues, beneath the “thick veneer of democracy” lies the same old issues.
“It's like lifting a corner of the curtain,” he says. They, the filmmakers, want people to be armed with the knowledge that Canada is not a paradise and that they must be practical.
As I watched the film, I could not shrug off the feeling that I was watching scenes from my own country. This was also a story depicting the Filipino people's struggle for respect for human dignity. Even with different circumstances, the message was clear: whenever the people assert their rights, the government retaliates through violent means. And that the only way to confront this is to unite, stand firm, and fight. Only by upholding your rights against all odds can one ever hope to enjoy freedom.
The country Algeria may still hold no special meaning for me. But I feel that the Algerian refugees in Canada are kindred spirits. Bulatlat
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