The subject of controversy and demonstrations when screened in competition at Cannes this year, Rachid Bouchareb’s supposedly ‘anti-French’ film (possibly due to audacious comparisons between the FLN and the French Resistance during WWII) follows three Algerian brothers who become involved in the struggle for their country’s independence. Surviving the infamous Setif massacre of 1945 when a parade celebrating VE Day was fired upon by the local gendarmerie, Abdelkader (Sami Bouajila) the intellectual, Messaoud (Roschdy Zem) the fighter, and Said (Jamel Debbouze), the boxing coach initially disinterested in the cause, move to France and become involved with the Front de Libération Nationale. The violence escalates, culminating in the Paris massacre of 1961 when an illegal but peaceful FLN demonstration was fired upon, and the final granting of independence in 1962.