Houria is a young girl who studies classical ballet and is preparing to be the protagonist of Swan Lake. In the mornings she works as a cleaner in a hotel and at night, to earn extra money and buy a car for her mother, she bets on goat fights. On one occasion, she takes a good peak out of her, but a man, a former terrorist who was released from prison after being pardoned, chases her, assaults her and robs her. Houria is left mute and injured as a result of the beatings, but little by little, with the help of her mother, her friend Sonia, and her therapy colleagues, she regains strength and tries to dance again.
Director Mounia Meddour made her debut in 2019 with Papicha, sueños de libertad, which won several César awards and went through the official section of the Cannes Film Festival. The film was set in the 1990s during the Algerian civil war and starred Lyna Khoudri. Now, Meddour repeats with Khoudri as the protagonist and although her new film, Houria (Freedom), takes place in present-day Algeria, the echoes of that war still resonate in this latest work that arrives tomorrow on Spanish screens.
“Pachica took place during the Algerian civil war, because I lived through that conflict. I was 20 years old then. Terrorists who wanted to establish an Islamic State by force arrived and there were many dramas and traumas, there were 150,000 deaths and disappearances, some people had to leave the country with an emergency and others were forced to live in very difficult conditions. Those 10 years of civil war traumatized the population in a country that became independent from France in 1962 and has had a very difficult journey since decolonization,” Meddour explains. in an interview with La Vanguardia.
It escapes no one that there are many parallels between the history of Algeria and that of Houria, because the director, who is also the film’s scriptwriter, wanted to represent with her protagonist “a youth trying to rebuild the country and making an effort with continue and move forward after adversity”. “The story of this heroine is the symbol of Algeria, a country that has been destroyed and is starting from scratch to rebuild itself politically, intellectually and economically. Just like Houria who, after her accident, has to start a life, a journey and a new choreography starting from very fragile bases, but thanks to the energy, courage and support of the group of women, it manages to build something very strong and very beautiful”, adds the director.
Among the women who support Houria’s revival, Sonia, her best friend, stands out. She is also a dancer, but she feels that she has no future in Algeria. Sonia wants to go to Spain to join her sister in Alicante and she is convinced that a better life awaits her on the other side of the sea. Sonia’s subplot gives Meddour the opportunity to address another of the dramas his country is experiencing, that of immigration: “It is often thought that people emigrate for political or economic reasons, but there are people who leave for other reasons” , point.
“There are people who leave because they want to study or because they have a diploma and cannot find a job of their own, or for health reasons, because they can receive treatment abroad or because they cannot have an abortion in their country of origin, but there are also people , like Sonia, who are tired and what they aspire to is freedom,” he adds. Sonia embarks on a clandestine boat one night heading to Spain. She puts her life in danger to try to see her dream come true. Meddour points out that “when you drown in your country, you can risk dying for freedom. Sonia has work and friends in Algeria, but all she wants is to live freely and she risks dying for that freedom.”
The Algerian director, who now lives in France, concludes that Houria is “a film that gives a lot of energy, courage and hope, because although it talks about a woman in Algeria, it is a completely universal film due to its strength and desire for freedom.”
