Tracing a history of terrorism in Rachid Bouchareb’s films: London River (2009), Hors la loi (2010) and La Route d’Istanbul (2016)

Abstract This article examines Rachid Bouchareb’s London River, Hors la loi and La Route d’Istanbul. The trilogy explores terrorism’s many forms that range from anti-colonial and ethno-national to state and jihadist terror in the twentieth century. Hors la loi, a narrative of anti-colonial Algerian terrorism, exposes the juxtaposing meanings of being outside the law – as victims of the unjust colonial law and as a strategy to use victimhood as a weapon. London River and La Route d’Istanbul, on the other hand, by focusing on the grief of politically neutral parents, leave the origins and causes of jihadist terrorism unexplored.