Les oliviers de la justice

The first and only narrative feature by American documentarian James Blue (Oscar-nominated for A Few Notes On Our Food Problem), The Olive Trees Of Justice holds the dual distinctions of being the only French film to have been shot during the Algerian War, and to have been the inaugural winner of the Critics prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1962. Filmed in Algiers and the surrounding countryside during the late stages of the Algerian War, under the pretext that it was a documentary about the wine industry, the film depicts the Algerian struggle for independence from the French by concentrating on a young “pied-noir” (Frenchman of Algerian descent) who returns to Algiers to visit his dying father. His memories of boyhood on his father's farm are told in flashbacks with a lush serenity that contrasts to the teeming, tank-filled streets of contemporary Algiers.