Bouchareb is not, as Pontecorvo was, a political film-maker. He's a humanist with a strong feeling for personal tragedies and people caught up in the tides of history.

There is no doubt where Bouchareb's sympathies lie but his attempt to marry a political lesson with the structures of an action movie doesn't always work. Current events give his argument renewed force, however.

It's overlong and a little over-indulgent, but given current events in north Africa, there's an unanticipated resonance to it.

... a taut, epic story of three brothers whose lives unfold during the struggle for Algerian independence from France.