Product Details

• Actors: Cylia Malki, Baya Belal, Jean-Roger Milo, Fatima Ben SaĂ¯dane, Deborah Lamy
• Directors: Mehdi Charef
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: Arabic (Unknown)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: FIRST RUN FEATURES
• DVD Release Date: June 20, 2006
• Run Time: 101 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000F6IHR2
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #121,706 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Daughter of Keltoum" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

DAUGHTER OF KELTOUM - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Happiness Is Coming, Push", March 22, 2008

By 

Brian E. Erland "Rainbow Sphinx" (Brea, CA - USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Daughter of Keltoum (DVD)

Note: French and Arabic with English subtitles.

The '01 film by Mehdi Charef is a superbly conceived, expertly realized film dealing with contemporary angst in isolation. It's a story about a courageous young woman named Rallia (Cylia Malki) and her journey from her home and adoptive family in Geneva, Switzerland to her place of birth in a remote, mountainous region of Algeria in search of a Mother and family she has never known. Arriving at the village of her origin she discovers her Grandfather and crazy Aunt (Baya Belai) but her Mother, Keltoum is nowhere to be found. She is told that Keltoum works in a city some distance away and Rallia and her Aunt go on an illuminating "journey of discovery" to reunite Mother and daughter.

The on-screen relationship between Cylia Malki and Babya Belai is amazinginly touching, moving back and forth between cultural isolation, lighthearted sillyness, vehement hatred and deep longing and emotive expressions of love and tenderness. While the relationship between these two is the basis of the film you'll also find yourself entranced by the barren, empty spaces of the landscape surrounding them and a first rate soundtrack.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning film!, April 25, 2007

By 

Mark Porter (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Daughter of Keltoum (DVD)

A stunningly beautiful, yet stark film. Transports you to a world few of us know exist, and even fewer will ever visit. The cinematography is amazing, capturing the landscape so dusty you'll sweat and wipe your own brow! And the storyline under it...equally amazing! Characters that seem quite simple yet turn out to be complex with plot twists that sneak up on you. Underlying it all, a place so real, yet so different that it can be difficult to comprehend life there! This is NOT an action movie, think in the spirit of "Waiting for the Moon". Highly recommended!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Young Woman's Search For Her Roots, March 6, 2008

By 

K. Jeannette (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Daughter of Keltoum (DVD)

Nineteen-year old Rallia comes from her adoptive home in Switzerland to the Berbers of Algeria to find the mother who abandoned her as a baby. Unlike her childhood dreams of a mountain paradise, she finds a primitive world where the struggle for survival coexists with a patriarchal subjection of women.

The film is a fascinating look at a very different culture and the reaction of European-raised Rallia to it. Although she is often traveling the dusty desert by foot or by bus seeking her birth mother, one doesn't lose interest, because she becomes involved with many people and situations along the way, and we too want her to find her mother and make peace with her biological heritage.