It was movie that touched a string and left my mind empty of thoughts. Those views of the Algerien desert were magnificent. They pointed out something that we seem to forget again again: we are so small in the background of nature. I've often read in books about how the immensity of the desert humbles human beings but I never understood what it meant. Living in a place like that seems to have made the school teacher realize how precious is life and how small is the importance of human squabbles.
Quiet... That seems to be the predominant sound of the movie. Or more likely peace, a peace that Daru attempts to keep by turning a blind eye to the chaos that seems to start brewing around him. However, eventually he can not bring himself to sacrifice his values in order to keep his peaceful life.
The movie also shows the incipient stages of what we today call terrorism. Daru's perspective is very interesting. As a child who is born by Spanish parents in an Arabic country and who is also a French citizen he belongs to three nations and to none in the same time. Thus he has insight on all three cultures from a rather impartial perspective. He is not touched by excessive nationalism and can see analyze their cultures from a wider point of view.
We can see in this movie what could be called the calm before the storm. The inhabitants of the Arabic world are starting what they call a "revolution". From their point of view their actions represent their path to freedom, liberation from the oppression of foreign tyranny. We are used to see the terrorists as villains but perhaps they are victims just as match as we are.
Quiet... That seems to be the predominant sound of the movie. Or more likely peace, a peace that Daru attempts to keep by turning a blind eye to the chaos that seems to start brewing around him. However, eventually he can not bring himself to sacrifice his values in order to keep his peaceful life.
The movie also shows the incipient stages of what we today call terrorism. Daru's perspective is very interesting. As a child who is born by Spanish parents in an Arabic country and who is also a French citizen he belongs to three nations and to none in the same time. Thus he has insight on all three cultures from a rather impartial perspective. He is not touched by excessive nationalism and can see analyze their cultures from a wider point of view.
We can see in this movie what could be called the calm before the storm. The inhabitants of the Arabic world are starting what they call a "revolution". From their point of view their actions represent their path to freedom, liberation from the oppression of foreign tyranny. We are used to see the terrorists as villains but perhaps they are victims just as match as we are.