The only French production shot in Algeria during the Algerian War and the first American film to win the Critic’s Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, James Blue’s landmark film The Olive Trees of Justice was the only full-length narrative feature the director ever helmed. Now, it’s been beautifully restored in 4K for a theatrical release at Metrograph starting on January 21 and we’re pleased to debut the new trailer.
Blue, who was Oscar-nominated for A Few Notes On Our Food Problem, shot the film under the pretext that it was a documentary about the wine industry. The drama, which was an NYFF selection, depicts the Algerian struggle for independence from the French by concentrating on a young “pied-noir” (Frenchman of Algerian descent) who returns to Algiers to visit his dying father.
“His memories of boyhood on his father’s farm are told in flashbacks with a lush serenity that contrasts to the teeming, tank-filled streets of contemporary Algiers” the synopsis reads. “Giving the film a neorealist tone by shooting in a documentary style and enrolling a cast that consisted largely of non-professional actors, including author Jean Pelegri who wrote the autobiographical novel from which the film is based, Blue tells a powerful story of common people living and struggling in their daily lives, while providing a valuable testimony to the complexity of the Algerian situation in that time period.”
The film was restored in 4K in 2020 by L’Atelier d’Images and Thierry Derocles in collaboration with The James and Richard Blue Foundation with the support of The Film Foundation, James Ivory and CNC – Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée, at L’Image Retrouvée (Paris) from a fine grain print preserved at Les Archives Françaises du Film.
See the exclusive trailer and poster below.
The Olive Trees of Justice opens on January 21 at Metrograph and will expand.