“Wars of Memory”: On Rachid Bouchareb’s Hors la loi

Benjamin Stora has demonstrated that the current state of remembering the Algerian war is constituted by a set of fragmented memories from groups with opposing stakes. As a result, we have not yet reached a point at which representations of the Algerian war could become a site of “performative encounters” (Mireille Rosello), sites in which the “protocol of encounter” of opposing sides might be reconfigured otherwise, thus allowing for “the creation of new subject-positions.” Cultural sites of memory tend to become sites where earlier war divisions are replayed. This article analyzes representations of the Algerian war in Hors la loi (Outside the Law), exploring to what extent Stora’s argument about the fragmentation of French memories of the Algerian war is relevant to understanding both the film and its reception.