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| Alexandre Desane in True Chronicles of the Blida Joinville Psychiatric Hospital ... |
Cast: Alexandre Desane, Gérard Debouche, Nicolas Dromard, Omar Boulakirba, Amal Kateb, Catherine Boskowitz, Chahrazad Kracheni, Kader Affak. Screenplay: Abdenour Zahzah. Cinematography: Aurélien Py. Film editing: Youcef Abba, Abdenour Zahzah.
The full title is True Chronicles of the Blida Joinville Psychiatric Hospital in the Last Century, When Dr Frantz Fanon Was Head of the Fifth Ward Between 1953 and 1956. Which pretty much tells you that the film is a docudrama about the work of the revolutionary intellectual during a crucial period of his life. Fanon, played by Alexandre Desane, came to work at the Algerian mental institution when the conflict between the colonizing French and the Algerian people was nearing a flashpoint. He found a hospital in the grip of antique psychotherapeutic practices and racist assumptions by the French doctors in charge. His work transformed the hospital and drew attention to his ideas about the mental damage done by racism and colonialism not only to the native Algerians but also to the French who were occupying their country. It's a sober film, a series of incidents with no leavening humor or narrative suspense, but a provocative one even today, as racial stereotyping and inflexible ideology continue to afflict even those of us who oppose them.
