A Finger in the Works
The film mixes fiction, filmed documents and interviews which recounts the arrival in Paris of an Algerian immigrant lost in the metro. On December 27, 1968, France and Algeria signed an agreement which admitted each year 35,000 Algerian workers to French territory in the France of the Trente Glorieuses where the annual growth rate reached 5% and where factories lacked workers. Candidates obtain a residence permit valid for 5 years for themselves and their families. Paris is committed to improving professional training and housing conditions for immigrants, too often confined to the most thankless jobs and often housed in slums. A testimony on the living conditions of emigrant workers "economic cannon fodder" of neocolonialism which simultaneously develops its alter ego, institutionalized racism, as a tool of social stagnation and division of the proletarian class.
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Ahmed Rachedi Director · Rachid Boudjedra Writer
First release January 2, 1974 · Produced in Algeria · Languages Arabic, French
Production
Amicale des Algériens en Europe
Production
Algeria
Produced in
Languages
Original title
Le Doigt Dans L’Engrenage
Original language
French
Spoken on screen
Arabic · French
Release dates
Algeria · January 2, 1974
Theatrical
No release date listed for United States.
France
January 2, 1974 · Premiere
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