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The Arab

2026 · 106 min

A quiet, talk-heavy confession that slowly pulls you into a bitter reckoning with history and family.

Directed by
Malek Bensmaïl
Genres
Drama
Starring
Ahmed Benaissa, Hiam Abbass, Dali Benssalah
Overview
Haroun is an old bachelor who has lived in Oran for several years. A retired civil servant, he leads a reclusive life until the day he meets Kamel in a bar—a journalist to whom he tells an incredible story dating back to 1942. He claims to be the brother of ‘the Arab’ killed in a story told in one of the most famous novels of the 20th century, ‘The Stranger’ by Albert Camus. An Arab with an erased name: Moussa. Through anger, assertions, details, and confidences, Haroun finally convinces the journalist to listen to his story. His confession is a cry of freedom and distress—but above all, a cry of revolt: against an abusive mother, against a country that failed to achieve true independence, against a book, and against a famous French writer.

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In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
Directed by
Malek Bensmaïl
Genres
Drama
Starring
Ahmed Benaissa, Hiam Abbass, Dali Benssalah
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • melancholicstrength 2 of 3
  • tensestrength 2 of 3
  • darkstrength 2 of 3
  • earneststrength 2 of 3
Pacing
slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • identity
  • memory
  • isolation
  • family
  • colonialism
Places
  • big city
Era
period
Audience
adult
Form
  • nonlinear
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language mild
  • Violence mild
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action1
Horror1
Humour2
Realism8
Romance1
Tension5
Darkness6
Complexity7
Emotional weight8

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Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
drama
Directed by
Malek Bensmaïl
Written by
Jacques Fieschi, Malek Bensmaïl
Starring
Ahmed Benaissa, Hiam Abbass, Dali Benssalah, Nabil Asli, Amina Ben Ismaïl, Grégoire Monsaingeon, Mustapha Ayad, Raphaël Thiéry
Music
Nicolas Rabaeus
Cinematography
Lionel Jan Kerguistel, Gilles Porte
Runtime
106 min
Country
Algeria, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia
Languages
Arabic, Spanish, French

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