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Ali in Wonderland (1980)
Directed by Ahmed Rachedi
Drama, Comedy · 2h 09m
In the 1980s, barely 18 years after Algeria's independence, Algerian immigration to France massively fueled the construction industry, responding to a demand for hard, undervalued labor. Behind the idea of "selective immigration," these men were recruited primarily for their bras and their knock-kneed hands, shaped by construction sites. Invisible yet essential, they built roads, buildings, and infrastructure, often at the cost of precarious conditions. Ali, an Algerian crane operator in France, philosophically accepts the harassment faced by immigrants like himself on construction sites and in daily life. He hopes to escape his situation with the money he wins in the lottery, and from the top of his crane, he allows himself to dream, observing the world through binoculars. One day, the jackpot falls...
Cast
Djelloul Beghoura
Mustapha El Anka
Saïd Hilmi
Corinne Brodbeck
Albert Delpy
Larbi Zekkal
Mustapha Kateb
Ahmed Snoussi
Henri Poirier
Andrée Tainsy
Jean Valmont
Crew
- Director
- Ahmed Rachedi
- Writer
- Ahmed Rachedi, Rachid Boudjedra
- Director of Photography
- Rachid Merabtine
- Editor
- Hamid Djellouli
Details
- Original title
- Ali au Pays des Mirages
- Release date
- 1980-12-17
- Runtime
- 2h 09m
- Genres
- Drama, Comedy
- Original language
- AR
- Spoken languages
- Arabic, French
- Countries
- Algeria
- Production
- Office National pour le Commerce et l'Industrie Cinématographique (ONCIC)