By choosing excitement and adventure as the approach for his first feature film Algiers,  director Chakib Taleb-Bendiab places himself before significant challenges due to the scarcity of similar achievements in Arab cinema. Such films require complex elements for success, including multi-angle cinematography that accompanies fast-paced action, as well as acting that demands both physical and expressive proficiency—qualities often found in Western and, particularly, American films. Bendiab decides to pursue this style to tell a true story that took place in Algeria shortly after the end of a dark political phase in its modern history known as the “Black Decade.”The film’s script is not directly related to that period but instead it examines the deep impact of that period on Algerian society through the story of a young girl’s abduction in a popular neighborhood by an unknown man. This occurs amidst social tension, where some individuals lean towards seeking revenge against the kidnapper, contrasting with the mission of investigator Sami, who wants justice to take its course and to apprehend the criminal so he can receive his rightful punishment. In this context, the psychologist Dounia enters the scene, linking the incident to a series of child abductions and murders that occurred in the late 1990s. She insists on continuing her work despite the male discrimination directed against her.To distinguish his cinematic and aesthetic approach from other thrillers, director Bendiab bases his work on a critical social reading that links violence and its causes to the emergence of a new Algerian generation seeking to move past that dark period and beyond its traumatic aftermath. His achievement combines beautiful cinematic craftsmanship filled with relentless tension and a critical review of a historical phase in which cinema can contribute, which is precisely what the film Algiers aims to accomplish.Kais Kasim