Chronicle of the Years of Fire (Arabic: وقائع سنين الجمر, romanized: Waqāʾiʿu sinīna l-jamri; French: Chronique des Années de Braise; these names both mean "Chronicle of the Years of Embers") is a 1975 Algerian drama historical film directed by Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina. It depicts the Algerian War of Independence as seen through the eyes of a peasant.
The film won the Palme d'Or prize at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival. It was also selected as the Algerian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 48th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.
Contents
Plot
The film is composed of 6 chapters: The Years of Ash, The Years of Embers, The Years of Fire, The Year of the Cart, The Year of the Charge, and November 1, 1954.
The story of the film begins in 1939 and ends on November 11, 1954. Through historical milestones, it demonstrates that the Red All Saints' Day on November 1, 1954 (the start of the Algerian War), is not a historical accident but the culmination of a long process of suffering and struggles, initially political and later military, undertaken by the Algerian people against the fait accompli of French colonization, which began with a landing at Sidi-Ferruch on June 14, 1830.
Cast
Yorgo Voyagis as Ahmed
Larbi Zekkal as Si Larbi Ben M’hidi
Cheikh Nourredine as Akli, Ahmed’s blacksmith friend
Hassan El-Hassani as El Hadj, grocer
Leila Shenna as Ahmed's wife
Sid Ali Kouiret as Saïd, Ahmed’s cousin
Malik Lakhdar-Hamina as Ahmed’s children
Tarek Lakhdar-Hamina as Ahmed’s children
Merwan Lakhdar-Hamina as Ahmed’s children
Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina as Miloud
Hadj Smaine Mohamed Seghir as Sage du village
Cheikh Nourredine as L'ami
François Maistre as Le contremaître de la carrière
Taha El Amiri
Reception
Mark Cousins, writing for The Guardian, named it one of the ten best African films ever made. He said that "if our movie memories weren't so Hollywood-skewed, we'd think of [it] as a classic".