Fuera de la ley

It is tough to show both sides of the same medallion, but the movie tries to do just that. It's true that there is a predictability to it, but the characters portrayed by really good french actors give it their best and the movie is worth watching. It is of course handled as mixture drama/thriller to attract a bigger audience, but that does not have to be a bad thing.

I personally liked the Grey area kind of handling/treatment the story received, but I can see why some felt it wasn't rooting for one side or didn't engage the viewer with more involvement in the story. But the characters all act naturally and upon their instinct(s). Of course some things are convenient and to get more information on the background you might need to do further research (and/or look at the deleted scenes of the movie), but that is true of many "historical" (or "based on") movies!

Outside the Law details a period in French-Algerian history from the end of the Second World War to Algerian independence. It follows three Algerian brothers who move to France and take completely different paths. One of them joins the French army, another becomes a political radical, while the third embarks of a life of crime. All of them are eventually brought together in the unified cause of Algerian independence and equal rights. It begins and ends with notorious bloody events.

Much seems to have been made about the liberties that this film has taken with the facts surrounding certain key historical events. I am not in any position to say if this is a justified complaint or not, as I simply do not know. However, I think it's only fair to say that the plot-line follows a historically accurate path; whether or not the emphasis of events is skewered or not I can't say but, if so, it would not be the first time in cinema history that a film exaggerates for dramatic effect. Whatever the case, it's certainly a period in history that hasn't been depicted in films very often from what I can gather.

While I did enjoy the film, I didn't think it was nearly as good as Rachid Bouchareb's earlier film Days of Glory. That latter film dealt with a similar theme - the difficulties French Algerians have experienced in their adopted land. I felt that Outside the Law didn't share that movie's sympathetic characters or its dynamic plot trajectory. It's overall a much more down-beat story.

Guess what... I never took History in school. It was not through lack of want, believe me. So it was only during this World Cup I discovered( From the commentators, no less ) that GASP Algeria used to belong to France. And now, I find myself watching a film about that very struggle, for them be an independent nation. Coincidence, no?

Encompassing about 40 years, Outside The Law centres around One Algerian family as they are forced to give up their lands and move into skid row. There are three brothers, and as they grow up we see them take on very different fates: One becomes a soldier, the other a revolutionary while inside prison, and the last sibling joins the criminal underworld. Eventually, all their paths will collide in the dramatic (and long running) saga of Algeria's eventually successful quest to govern itself. Will Scotland follow suit? Don't hold your breathe.

A wise man once told me: "There is no good film that is too long, and no bad film that is too short". Never a truer word spoken in this case. as it clocks in at just over two hours... yet I was enraptured till the (very bitter) end. The twist-laden plot takes us from one well directed set piece to another, as bullets fly like confetti and bodies are strewn around without mercy. But despite all this chaos, it still has the time for quieter reflective passages which are just as effective. In fact, maybe even more so. It all combines to create a jewel of a movie. Fantastic.

Oh and if there are historic inaccuracies in this script (Which I'm sure there will be) I'm not going to mark it down for that. I'm a critic, not a teacher. Mind you, considering how clueless most of the educators I've met seem to be, maybe that's just as well... 8/10

Set against the increasing demands for Algerian independence at home, three brothers are living in 1950s France. "Saïd" (Jamel Debbouze) is making a decent living running a nightclub but his siblings are much less settled. "Abdelkader" (Sami Bouajila) is a member of a proscribed organisation using terrorist tactics to free their homeland, and he is determined to recruit former soldier "Messaoud" (Roschdy Zem) and "Saïd" to the cause. The latter isn't really interested, but with the police closing in on the family and his nightclub shut down, he now has some tough decisions to make. There's something of the terrorist being another man's freedom fighter adage to this story and it's essentially asking the question of an audience. What wouldn't we do for freedom? The brothers have fled Algeria to escape the purported brutality of their oppressive colonialists, but now in France they are visiting a similar threatening behaviour on innocents there. Two wrongs make a right? Were the police there to protect or to impose? All questions asked but sadly not really very well addressed. The acting is weak, the characters seriously undercooked and the writing (historically based or not) struggles to sell us these three men one way or the other. This had a chance to enhance the standard documentary look of a depiction of the justice and causes of revolution but instead it rather leaves it to us, and any knowledge of events we may have, to reach our own conclusions. Disappointing, I'd say.

Well done film produced by France, Algeria, Tunisia and Belgium, about French colonial butchery. The story is held in several countries and portrays the brutal murders in Algeria, the lost war against Vietnamese and the massacres against Algerians inside Paris (and particularly the slums). However, it is centered in the very interesting story of three Algerian brothers who initially follow different paths but life and fight for freedom will put together. Besides good character development, there are also quite good action scenes. Oh, I may mention that it was also a good surprise that it is a boxing film too, as I love movies on that sport.