Harkis (2008) Plot Summary Explained

Release, runtime and language

2008 · 98 mins · French

Directed by

Alain Tasma

Starring

Baya Belal, Abel Jafri, Leïla Bekhti, Frédéric Pierrot, Gérard Dubouche, Smaïn

In 1972 a Harki family reaches a remote forest camp in southern France carrying only a few belongings. The camp’s paternalistic overseer provides little more than a harsh existence of poverty and limited freedom. Leila, the eldest daughter, rebels, experiences her first love and refuses to accept the status quo. Her father Saïd, scarred by war and exile and abandoned by the French who once recruited him, finds new resolve with Leila’s help and a kindly peasant couple, allowing the Benamars to leave the camp and settle on a nearby farm.