My Village, A Village Among Others

The Dance of the Wind (Arabic: رقصة الريح) is an Algerian-Tunisian film and the fourth feature film by Taïeb Louhichi. Shot digitally, it differs from his previous films in its emphasis on meditation rather than vast outdoor landscapes. While scouting locations for his film in southern Tunisia, director Youssef meets the gaze of a stunning Berber woman who orders him not to film her. This marks the beginning of a wandering journey that leads him to his downfall in the vast desert, prey by day to mirages, by night to his anxieties, childhood memories, his first cinematic experiences, and the fear of seeing his film fail because he has let his mind wander. His car is his only anchor and his means of resistance, thanks to the contents of its trunk where he keeps scripts, photos, and means of subsistence.

Rich in environmental mood and ethnic color, this human drama chronicles the lives and rituals of a nomadic Berber tribe in the southern Tunisian desert, especially focusing on a son about to inherit the full mantle of leadership. When he sees that their sheep are threatened with a possibly devastating illness, the precarious nature of the group's existence is brought home to him and he leaves to gain a livelihood and knowledge in the city. Once he gets back, bringing money and presents, it first appears that the group will be assured of a better future because of his enterprising outreach. Yet military and governmental officials arrive on the scene to take a census and the young man is conscripted, against his will.

Since childhood, Qays and Layla have been in love. Qays, being a poet, publicly sings of his love, crying it out joyously far and wide - just the sort of public proclamation which was strictly condemned at the time. Distraught yet fearless, Qays stubbornly proclaims with all the more vigor his love for Layla, who remains entrapped by her own clan.

Five young men aged about twenty form a tight group of friends. So there is a major panic when one of them, Nabil, dies during a quarrel that gets out of hand. The friends clear away the body and decide to keep silent to the outside world about what happened, but their friendship is tested to the utmost. Then they meet Pierrot and Madonna, two loners who have just met and, as a result of a joke played by the group, get married to each other.

The return of an exiled man, tormented by his past, a lover and a militant. The director, returns to bring up the spirit of The Opera Didon and Aeneas of Purceil that he had to abandon 25 years ago. It is also a chronicle of the daily life and place of the new opera, Sidi Bou Said, after the Tunisian revolution.