Currently in the cinema, Our Brothers by Rachi Bouchareb returns in particular to the Malik Oussekine affair, like the Oussekine series on Disney +. If it deals with a common subject, the two works are very different and complementary.
The Malik Oussekine affair had never been dealt with directly in the cinema, apart from a few quotes in Derrick against Superman by Michel Hazanavicius or La Haine by Matthieu Kassovitz. This year, two works are dedicated to him: the film Nos Frangins, currently in cinemas, and the Oussekine series, available on Disney+.
This tragic case of police violence that occurred on the night of December 5, 1986, in the midst of a student protest in Paris against the Devaquet university reform project, made Malik Oussekine a symbol. If the film and the series deal with this case, the two works have a different point of view and a different plot, which makes them as important as they are complementary on the subject.
Our Brothers by Rachid Bouchareb, at the cinema
On the one hand, the filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb, known in particular for Indigènes and Cheb, is making his return to cinemas with his tenth feature film, Nos Frangins, which was entitled to a preview screening at the Cannes Film Festival.
The feature film returns to the Malik Oussekine affair, but not only… It also sets out to highlight the tragic death of another young Frenchman of Algerian origin, of whom we have heard less. This is Abdel Benyahia, shot dead by an alcoholic policeman and outside his hours of service in Pantin.
2022 3b Productions – France 2 Cinema – The Pact – Wild Bunch International
Rachid Bouchareb has therefore decided to follow two bereaved and bruised families who have lost a brother at the hands of a repressive, poorly trained police force and under pressure from a Ministry of the Interior which seeks to stifle these blunders and police violence. . With these two cases which respond to each other and which terribly echo the news, the filmmaker takes the pulse of a year 1986 shaken by student demonstrations.
And this cry from the heart of an oppressed youth is felt all the more thanks to the archive images, very present in the film, which do not only serve as illustrations but which come to decorate and build a story, co-written with Kaouther Adimi , of great humanity and imbued with a galvanizing fraternal energy punctuated by sounds of revolt, like Mano Negra and Renaud.
And we can also count on the involved performances of its excellent cast: Lyna Khoudri, Reda Kateb, Raphaël Personnaz, Samir Guesmi, Laïs Salameh and Adam Amara, to make this film an important and powerful drama. Less centered on the family’s past than on the importance of the symbol and the impact of these two cases, Our Brothers is a unifying film but also sober and modest, because we do not explicitly see the deaths of Malik and Abdel but their souls hover over the whole film which ends with a note of hope and homage.
Oussekine, the series by Antoine Chevrollier
On the other hand, the Oussekine series, available on Disney +, returns in four episodes to the terrible events which caused the death of Malik Oussekine and its consequences. Through the serial format, this creation by Antoine Chevrollier explores in depth the impact of the death of Malik (played by Sayyid El Alami) and stages it through the prism of his family.
It is through the eyes of his relatives, distraught, weakened and victims of racism, that the series dissects the upheaval and the strong emotion that this affair has caused in French society. The series also focuses on recounting the long and painful legal battle of the Oussekine family for the truth to be heard.
Disney+
A true family drama, Oussekine is told in three stages: the time of the past on Malik’s youth, the time of the present on the struggle of relatives and the time of the incident on the death of the young man. The series spares us neither the physical violence nor the psychological violence nor the verbal violence that emerged from the affair, without however falling into vulgarity and complacency.
A punchy, accurate and brilliantly written series (thanks to the collaborative work of the authors Antoine Chevrollier, Faïza Guène, Cédric Ido, Julien Lilti and Lina Soualem), Oussekine is a real success which brings this affair to light with force and emotion, thanks to a rich narration and masterful interpretations of its cast (Hiam Abbass, Slimane Dazi, Naidra Ayadi, Mouna Soualem, Tewfik Jallab, Malek Lamraoui, Kad Merad, Olivier Gourmet, Laurent Stocker, Thierry Godard, Matthieu Lucci, Matthieu Demy and Gilles Cohen ).