Algeria, De Gaulle and the Bomb
Larbi Benchiha
2010 - 52 min - HDCam - Couleur - France

On February 13, 1960 at 07:04 am, about 40 kilometres away from the town of Reggane, the first French nuclear bomb exploded in the Algerian sky.
Code name: Blue Jerboa, 70 Kt power, four times as much as on Hiroshima.
In 1962, after the Evian agreements, while crowds of French people were leaving newly independent Algeria, French servicemen and scientists went on undisturbed with nuclear tests in the Sahara desert, and they did so for several years. President Charles de Gaulle had decided on having the bomb, and this was one of the secret issues at stake in the Algerian War.
Larbi Benchiha has a new way of dealing with the well-known issue of these first nuclear tests. No unforeseen exposure, no amazing scoop, no sensational new stand. However, this film does tell a story that is not at all well-known.