Pour Djamila (2011)

The film is told from the point of view of Gisèle Halimi (Marina Hands) and punctuated by her voice-over. Djamila Boupacha (Hafsia Herzi) is a 22-year-old Muslim woman who lives with her parents in Algiers, then a French colony, during the Algerian War. She is arrested and accused of having planted a bomb—which was defused in time—in a café. During her interrogation, military personnel torture her, beating her, subjecting her to electric shocks and waterboarding, and raping her. Under torture, Djamila confesses to things she did not do. When contacted, lawyer Gisèle Halimi agrees to defend her, secures a postponement of the trial, and then has it moved to France. She manages to establish a support committee chaired by Simone de Beauvoir, which raises public awareness, and to turn the trial into a trial of torture, officially denied by the French army and government. She cannot prevent Djamila from being sentenced to death. Djamila declares her commitment to independence while maintaining her innocence in the bombing plot. She will be granted amnesty and released from prison in [year not specified], under the Évian Accords.