Wild Reeds (1994)

👉Full movie at end of the post

In the final months of the Algerian War, Wild Reeds follows four teenagers at a boarding school in rural France as they navigate love, identity, and politics. The story centers on François, a shy and sensitive student discovering his sexual identity.

François is best friends with Maïté, a bright and politically aware girl whose mother is a communist. Maïté has romantic feelings for François, but when he confesses that he is gay, their friendship is tested. Despite her disappointment, she tries to support him.

The arrival of a new student, Serge, complicates things further. François becomes attracted to Serge, who is more confident and sexually experienced. Meanwhile, Serge's older brother has just died in Algeria, adding tension and grief to his life.

Another outsider, Henri, joins the group. He is a French-Algerian (Pied-Noir) with strong right-wing views, which clash with Maïté’s beliefs. His presence adds a political dimension to the group’s personal dramas, revealing how the war in Algeria divides even the youth in France.

As the story unfolds, each character faces emotional and ideological awakenings. In the end, Wild Reeds paints a delicate portrait of adolescence, where personal identity and political history intersect, and where the “wild reeds” bend in the winds of change but do not break.