Set in the late 1980s, this clear-eyed drama is about the struggles a secular man faces to live his life as the tide of Islamic fundamentalist terror and violence rises in 1980s Algeria. “I wanted it to be a very relatable story, because it’s easy to theorize about terrorism, or hide behind terrifying figures of horror and faceless entities engaged in war,” says filmmaker Salem Brahimi, a Costa- Gavras (Z, Missing) protégé. The unsentimental intelligence and stark realism of his film make it a must-see.