Eija-Liisa Ahtila:If 6was9,The Hour of Prayer,Where is Where

[T]he meticulous ”Where Is Where?”, whose construction and execution becomes more astonishing with each viewing. A true piece of Cubist cinema, Ahtila—who has been amassing an interesting

body of short, brilliantly fi lmed pieces through the decade, mainly centered on female characters—manages to conjoin the bruising and true tragedy of two Algerian Arab boys who killed their French

playmate during the Algerian war of independence with a Finnish poet (played with compact energy by Aki Kaurismaki’s favorite, Kati Outinen) ferreting out the essence of the event in poetic terms

across the decades and across continents. (…) the ultimate impact of ”Where Is Where?” on screen (as a multi-screen installation, which is the work’s other form presented in gallery spaces, I can’t say) is profound as a demonstration of how grand formal exploration can be woven into the fabric of great historical and moral notions, hinged to something that starts in drama and poetry, and then moves beyond both, into what can be termed new cinema.