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‘Algiers’ Review: An Officer and a Psychiatrist Search for a Kidnapped Child in a Fleetingly Tense Social Thriller
Water shortages and the specter of civil war in Algeria add fuel to the drama, but 'Algiers' lacks character depth and narrative cohesiveness.
The unsettling incident, inspired by real events, ignites the occasionally tense, if mostly dramatically inert social thriller “ Algiers,” the country’s Oscar international feature submission, from writer-director Chakib Taleb-Bendiab. Tensions are already running high in this town due to water shortages (as a radio announcement informs), and the knowledge that a predator is roaming around adds fuel to the fire with irate local men trying to find the culprit on their own. The neighbors suspect a disabled homeless man who lives in a nearby parking lot, but once that lead fails to yield concrete results, Medjkane’s educated inferences gain prominence.
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