A nameless doctor is drawn into the front lines of a violent struggle between a government and an armed uprising. While dealing with the mental toll of the war, the doctor is kidnapped to take care of a rebel leader. Becoming a target for the army, he must decide if he can continue to do his duty.

The latest film by Algerian-French auteur Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche is an engrossing drama tinged with a thriller’s suspense. Echoing Casablanca’s hero fighting to keep wartime neutrality and Transit’s clever use of an unnamed locale, Ameur-Zaïmeche vividly tells a timeless story of paramount urgency.