Woman Is Courage

This fascinating and emotionally gripping documentary by director Amine Rachedi narrates the story of Louisette Ighilahriz, a young Algerian woman who joined the national liberation movement after her father was seized by French colonial authorities in the mid 1950s. As the film begins, Louisette is finally concluding her 40-year search for a French military doctor known to her only as Commander Richaud, in order to express her gratitude to him for saving her life. When Louisette and other Algerian resistance fighters were captured in a field in September of 1957, they were imprisoned and tortured by French troops for several months, until Commander Richaud discovered their condition and what was being done to them. He provided the prisoners with immediate medical attention and transferred them to a French prison where they would be treated in accordance with international laws. As Louisette Ighilahriz leads director Rachedi to the places where these awful events took place, she comments on the difficulty of adapting to daily life after the revolution and on the state of Algeria today. —Alex Williams