Directors: Adila Bendimerad, Damien Ounouri
artists: Adila Bendimerad, Dali Benssalah, Imen Nouel
Year: 2022
Premiere: 8/11/23
★★
French-Algerian director Damien Ounori and Algerian actress Adila Bendimerad have co-wrote the mid-length film ‘Kindil’ (2016), set on a beach where all bathers seem dead. He directed and he played. On their second job together, ‘The last queen’, Bendimerad is still in front of the camera but going the other way, he is directing the film with Ounouri.. Maybe they needed to join forces, because this ambitious co-production between Algeria, Taiwan and France recreates a bygone era, has several screenplays, extras and more or less spectacular battle scenes.
But at its core it is a candid story about ambitions, intrigues, loyalties and betrayals. Bendimerad represents Zephira, the last queen of the title, in Algiers in 1516.. Initiating the action, the pirate Barbarossa liberates Algeria from Spanish rule, but then deceives and kills the Algerian king and plans to take control of the country. But he does not trust the conviction of one of the deceased king’s two wives, Zephira, who defies Barbarossa, seeks alliances, and is not afraid to manipulate to save both his country and his son. A historical fresco that is constantly debated between its grand production mood and its character as a contemporary feminist reading and a political and protest manifesto. A debate that images never settle.