Tahia Ya Didou !(1971)

Tahia Ya Didou ! Synopsis

Originally commissioned by the city of Algiers to promote tourism, Mohamed Zinet’s Tahia ya Didou blends documentary with fiction to create a poetic, acerbic and rapturous portrait of the director’s native city. The camera travels freely, through the port, market, streets and cafés, capturing everyday people, some of whom recur frequently enough to seem like protagonists. The nominal plotline follows a French tourist couple’s leisurely visit to the city, the man having previously served in the army during the Algerian war. As they walk around, his comments betray his mindset’s racist colonial prejudices, while his wife reiterates asinine clichés. Their unhurried wandering is interrupted when he comes across a blind man and realises that he tortured him during his army service. The film is punctuated with punchy sequences that show a poet named Momo delivering verse as an elegy for Algiers.

Tahia Ya Didou ! (1971) is a comedy film directed by Mohamed Zinet, released on January 2, 1971 with a runtime of 1h 17m. It stars Mohamed Zinet, Himoud Brahimi, Suzie Nacer and Georges Arnaud. Viewers rate it 8.0 out of 10 across 5 ratings.