Nadia el Fani, Ouled Lenine, and a time of revolution

At this moment of revolution in Tunisia, one may reflect on Nadia el Fani’s Ouled Lenine (the children of Lenin).

OULED LENINE: The story of a commitment 

I was ten years old and it was the most beautiful moment of my life...In the independent Tunisia of Bourguiba, nonetheless, at the eve of the era of disappointments, we were those who shared a secret of membership, as we were the sons and daughters of communists…Hush!!!

At 20 years old, they fought for the independence of Tunisia and all hopes were allowed.  Did they wait too long for the country to mature? Or did time move too quickly for their dreams? Ouled Lenine (2007) paints a portrait of the progressive activists in post-independence Tunisia, and poses the question of their legacy.

Nadia El Fani probes the mysteries of modernity as it flourished for a time in Tunisia from the 1950s to the 1980s. The film focuses on her father, who was a leading member of the Tunisian Communist Party.

The powerful emotion of this tête-à-tête between father-daughter in the streets of Sousse or in the house of Sidi Bou Said; the questioning that weaves the threads of the discussion, leads us to ask: What happened? What have you done with your twenty years?

And yet, everything had begun so well: independence, the emancipation of women, development… “It was a time when Muslims, Jews, Christians, atheists, men and women equally, lived together, fought together for a better world made of tolerance, equality, passion…”

A Z’YEUX NOIRS MOVIES Production © 2008

Text and images from Nadia El Fani Blog

French text adapted to English by Beti Ellerson