It's out in theaters Wednesday: "Les Enfants rouges," a Tunisian drama between reality and fantasy against a backdrop of violence and resilience.

While grazing their flock in the mountains, two teenagers are attacked. Nizar (Yassine Samouni), 16, is killed, while Achraf (Ali Helali), 14, is sent to deliver a message to his family...

Inspired by a true story

The opening scene, centered around the execution of a child in front of his friend, creates a shocking effect, suggesting a harsh and unbearable work about terrorism. Inspired by a true story, the story, however, abandons naturalism after a few minutes to plunge into dreamlike scenes, sometimes flirting with the fantastic. Without forgetting the violence of its subject, nor addressing the feelings of this teenager who saw death with his own eyes.

Behind the tragedy, which takes the form of a round trip to the place of the boy's death – Achraf returns to his family, before leading them there, a journey where he sees his friend speaking to him –, the Tunisian director Lotfi Achour depicts a wounded youth, forced to live in a hostile environment and deprived of freedom. Rather than calling for escape, the surrounding mountains become impassable walls, and the forests, which resemble each other, labyrinths that make one lose all bearings, to the point of confusing nightmare and reality. A disconcerting proposition therefore, which also evokes, through its main character, the resilience that one must demonstrate to (sur)vive in the face of surrounding threats.

BY LOTFI ACHOUR (France, Tunisia), with Ali Helali, Wided Dadebi, Yassine Samouni... Drama. 1h45. Our rating: 3/5.