'A Thousand
Months' is produced by Faouzi Bensaidi. The movie is about ,Mehdi, a seven
years old child whom his father is in prison, he lives with his mother in his
grandfather’s house. Mehdi’s father is a teacher who is imprisoned under the
charge of provoking students into protests, but Mehdi is told by his mother
that his father is working in France. The grandfather is doing his best to keep
the basic needs of the family. In that, he suffers too much living on the fact
that his land being confiscated by the same country he fought for in the war of
liberation. In school, Mehdi is privileged by carrying the teacher’s chair from
and to his home.
Beyond the story
of Mehdi who represent the new generation that live under the socio-political
pressure there is another hidden story in parallel with the main story that
tell us much more about the state policy in dealing people. Corruption of
school and corruption of authority are
another imperatives of the second story. Bensaidi built his movie from
different parts to organize a consistent picture of the social institutions in
their interaction.
Through the movie
we see the reflection of missed up country that restricts people's freedom of
speech and protest and a child who pears up the harshness of carrying a chair
for his teacher from home to school every day. The picture here is symbolic,
and we only could understand it if we know the symbolism of the chair in the
movie. The chair is a symbol of power and authority, yet students as a future
generation can trick the teacher who is a symbol of authority with a nail up in
the chair. This act connotes a revolutionary
meaning that even young generation may get outrageous when they are excessively
tormented.
Mehdi uses the
chair to contemplate and enjoy the views from a high places. He somehow experiences
the grand feeling by sharing the chair with his teacher which makes the sitting
on it quite different.
‘A thousand
Months’ is screened in 1997 during Ramadan month in the Atlas mountains.
