Search - Enough! (Barakat!) on DVD

Two Women in Algeria

Amos Lassen | Little Rock, Arkansas | 08/15/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Enough!" ("Barakat")

Two Women in Algeria

Amos Lassen

"Enough!' (First Run Features) is an amazing film set during the Civil War in Algeria in the 1990's. Amel, a Westernized doctor's husband is missing. He is a journalist, who has written serious articles and there is suspicion that he has been kidnapped or murdered because of them. Khadija, an older woman, has lived through the struggle her country has been going through for ten years. She and Amel begin a dangerous search for the journalist and go out into the countryside.
It is the women's strong characters that make this a movie to see.
The film moves slowly and concentrates on the characters to the point that the viewer feels as if he can read their minds. Beautifully photographed and showing the sheer majesty of the Algerian landscape. We also get to see the problems of the country especially the suffering of women in this well constructed film. The power of the film is felt long after it is over and the two women turn in wonderful performances.
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A Very Human Story Set Amidst Political Turmoil and Very Rea

R. Crane | Washington, DC United States | 01/12/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a film about the political strife in Algeria during the 1990's, and its impact upon ordinary lives. Amel, a Westernized woman, is also a doctor married to a journalist who is missing. It is understood that this is related to a series of articles he published condemning the current political situation.

Together with another woman from the hospital where she works, Amel goes in search of her husband, whom she believes fundamentalists have kidnapped and hidden in a remote section of mountains. Amel's companion is also a veteran of the war with France, and tries to use her connections with her previous comrades to trace Amel's husband. Throughout the movie we watch how these highly educated women are abused by men and treated with no respect.

The film is beautifully made, the actors terrific and the Algerian scenery quite spectacular. The ending is a little ambiguous. Why the writer/director did that is not clear. The ending certainly does not add to the film.

The movie is well worth watching, a very human story set amidst political turmoil and very realistic.
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