Le premier homme Page #4

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If you're happy...

...that's good enough for me.

In North Africa, France

holds a magnificent empire,

comprised of three countries:

Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia.

The conquest, which started

as retaliation for the "Fan Affair",

began in 1830.

The locals, Arab nomads and sedentary

Berbers opposed great resistance.

But we mustn't forget

the famous Barbary pirates.

Their frequent incursions

spread death among the local tribes

It was the French providential

intervention that saved them.

The French built roads,

railways and bridges.

They developed agriculture

mines, aqueducts,

hospitals and schools.

Today Algeria,

divided into three regions since 1848,

is a French province.

It enjoys the universal

cultural splendour of France,

our motherland

Next is Cormery Jacques.

Cormery.

Well, Cormery,

they tell me you're a poet.

Me? No.

They told me you wrote a poem.

I just copied it.

Did you steal it from your classmates?

No. From three different poets.

Could you recite it for us?

It's called "Sadness".

The horizon is swallowed by the night

A crying bird announces the time

When morning sun erases

A life so brief...

The life of dreams

- Where were you?

- Around.

Where is your mother?

Did you see her?

No, didn't

Go and look for her.

Tell her to come here at once.

You startled me, stupid!

- Did I hurt you? - No, I'm OK.

- I'm glad.

Headstrong, just like your father.

How was my father?

Intelligent, serious, pleasant?

Your father was always headstrong

Headstrong.

Why did my mother fall

in love with him?

Headstrong, gentle heart

They always go together.

Come in.

Close the door.

Come closer.

Come closer.

Come closer.

Come closer.

Come closer.

- Are you tired?

- No, I'm OK.

- I would like to live here with you.

- And you will.

One day... you will.

How old were you when I was born?

I can't remember.

Is the house still far away?

Our house doesn't exist any more

Why all these questions?

Would you be happy if

I wrote a book about you?

I can't read.

Always smoke alone

But a cigarette

is best when you share it.

Thank you.

Here.

You're right.

When you ask for or offer a cigarette

a bond of complicity

is formed between people

I never thought about that.

Put it in one of your books:

Uncle Etienne said...

- Why so formal?

- Respect.

What are you saying?

What are you doing in a place like this?

Nice.

Clean bathrooms.

- But you're not an invalid.

- Never went to war.

Too young, too old...

I'm leaving for the next one!

- I love you.

- Stop it...

Stop being so formal.

Your books here, in the library.

"The last strike", nice.

You know the burden of working.

You know it better than me.

You've worked your whole life

One day didn't want to any more

I said:
"enough".

I don't understand.

What are you saying?

Me too going to war.

All alone

Do you think he's happy?

He hasn't changed.

He's innocent as always

- Was it day or night?

- What?

When I was born.

I bet the sun was shining.

It was night and it was raining.

Is that how you're

going to start your book?

What do you think?

I don't think anything.

But don't forget to tell

the truth about your father.

Write thus:

"My father was more beautiful than me."

Help me,

my wife is going into labour!

- What's the problem?

- Is there a doctor nearby?

The doctors are no good.

That's a job for women.

Acha!

Adila!

Fadela!

Zohra!

Come!

Come in.

God wanted to pamper you.

- Is that your first son?

- Yes.

The first.

Do you think I have nothing else to do?

Kheira!

Kheira!

Take him.

I'm sorry you had to wait.

Have a lamb that

refuses its mother's milk

I'm thankful that you

could spare some time for me.

Are you interested in the farm?

If you want it, I could give

it to you for a piece of bread.

No, but I was told that I was born here,

near your estate.

It was state property.

It changed owners many times.

My parents rebuilt it.

Do you think they

might've met my father?

Could be, many years have passed.

Do you know when

the first colonists arrived here?

Exactly.

The year when France allocated

50 million for financing a colony.

Imagine the success.

There were more than a

thousand volunteers

that dreamed of the

promised land.

Men in the first place.

Women are more cautious.

But the men...

It's no wonder

they started a revolution.

Is there some trace left?

Anything?

If you're Algerian,

you know how things go here.

Things are torn down and then rebuilt.

People think about the future

and forget everything else.

I'm sorry I bothered you for nothing.

No, I'm pleased to have met you.

I read one of your books. I don't

remember the title, but it was good.

- Do your parents still live here?

- No.

My father doesn't want

to know about Algeria any more

He lives in Marseille,

in a modern apartment

I think he passes his days

walking around in his room.

And you?

I'll stay here until the end

be as it may.

I'M die here.

They can't understand

these things back in Paris.

Do you know who, apart from us,

are the only people that understand?

- The Arabs. - Exactly,

we're made to understand each other.

They are stupid and rough, like us,

but we share the same blood

So, we'll continue

to massacre each other

...tear our guts out,

torture each other...

...and then we'll go back

to living as human beings.

Yesterday, at dawn, a boy died.

He was 20,

and he was my schoolmate's son.

His name was Aziz Abdheramane.

He was guillotined.

His guilt was never proven.

And today feel closer to him

than any Frenchman that talks about

Algeria without knowing it well.

I've never met him,

but know his father well and

haven't seen hate in his eyes

...but sadness and desperation.

A sadness that I share with him.

His face is the face of my country.

The victims of this

Algerian drama belong

to the same tragic

family, whose members

massacre each other in the dead of

night without recognising themselves.

Stumbling in the dark upon the guts

of this clash of blind moles.

Soon Algeria will be inhabited

only by victims and assassins,

and the dead will be

the sole innocents.

Always was,

and always will be, for a just Algeria

where everyone can enjoy

the same rights in equality.

It is necessary to

give back to the

Algerian people what

is rightfully theirs

and give them full democratic laws.

We must unite instead of dividing.

I have always disapproved of terrorism,

so I can't but condemn the actions

perpetrated deliriously on the streets,

that one day could

strike down someone dear to us.

I believe in justice.

And I say to the Arabs:

"I will defend you at any cost,

but never against my mother.

Because she, like you,

has endured injustice...

...and suffering.

And if you ever hurt her in your rage,

I will be your enemy."

ls the tomb nice?

Your father's tomb.

I still haven't seen it.

Now that you're with me,

we could go together.

I'm too old.

It's too far away.

Why do you want to stay here?

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