Le fort des fous. France/Algeria/Greece/Germany/Qatar. Directed by Narimane Mari. Score by Los Cousinos. In French, English, Greek, Arabic; English subtitles. 140 min.
Mari’s follow-up to Bloody Beans is a spellbinding study of power and resistance that freely moves between epochs, geographies, and cinematic forms. From an ingenious restaging of the French colonial project in Algeria by its contemporary citizens, Le fort des fous catapults to the Greek island of Kythira, where a utopian society has taken root beyond the reaches of imperialist rule. In its final chapter, the film joins activists and anarchists in Athens, where political discourse and direct action drive daily life in the depths of the economic crisis. A dreamlike fugue whose tone shifts between reenactment, sensory observation, and documentary interviews make it one of the most noteworthy nonfiction films in recent memory, Le fort des fous asks not only how history is remembered, but if we dare to rewrite it entirely.