After losing their family home in Algeria, three brothers are scattered across the globe. Messaoud (Roschdy Zem) joins the French army fighting in Indochina; Abdelkader (Sami Bouaajila) becomes a leader of the Algerian independence movement; Saïd (Jamel Debbouze) moves to Paris to make his fortune in the shady clubs and boxing halls of Pigalle. Gradually, their interconnecting destinies reunite them in the French capital, where freedom is a battle to be fought and won.
While most films are content to settle themselves in the unenviable position of creating un-evocative, easy cinema Outside The Law has set its sights at portraying two interconnected narratives each as difficult to construct as the other. The first being the proceeding tale of a maturing group of brothers and their emotional dynamic. The second being the reconstruction of an anthropological look at those same three protagonists contribution towards the eruption of the Algerian liberation movement.
Outside The Law his achieved controversy and publicity well before its U.K. release. Its screening last year at the Cannes Film Festival saw protests of close to a thousand French citizens, some members of the far-right National Front, due to its perceived anti-French ideological attacks. The protests, which required stop searches, confiscation of water bottles and increased police staff were popular enough to raise the awareness of the film to higher levels, subsequently prompting several politicians to echo the sentiments of the grassroots protesters.
One year on and it’s quite apparent that one of three factors was clearly to blame, possibly all three. Either the protesters had not seen the film; that French reaction is irreconcilably different to our own, as always the case with protracted and deep running national tensions; or that the French mentality is so far removed from self-reflective that any awareness of historical truth is enough to stir resentment. I would imagine, and hope, that it would be the first one.
The reason for this judgement being that the film does little to invest itself in a cohesive and perceptive narrative of the Algerian National Liberation Front. While it is demonstrably FLN biased what is never achieved is an effective historical location and understanding of why, and exactly what our protagonists are fighting for. The audience are serviced with three or four brief but gut-renching moments of oppression and humiliation (the Setif massacre early on springs to mind) but a core comprehension and empathy is never established. The result is more of an engagement through the perception of gangster-esque hijinks, that happen to further revolutionary ends, rather than one of an awareness of a politically grounded fightback.
In what can be surmised as a move to combat this lack of time given to the development of a fitting revolutionary narrative the director and cinematographer have opted for stifling claustrophobic camera-work. While it does serve to illustrate the cramped conditions and ultimately the restraints of liberty the brothers, and wider Algerians live with, it never fully compensates. Indeed, the greatest partner to the revolution aspect of the narrative is the score with its deep, palpable, bubbing musicality underlining each important scene of conspiratorial triumph over the proper authorities.
That said, however, what does work well is the relationship between the brothers and this is the films greatest quality. Each lead rises to the occasion of infusing their character with individual personality but never a feeling that they’ve left the family unit. A wholesome and believable brotherhood that exhibits the tensions that arise in choosing between loyalty to family and loyalty to country; an affecting scene late on leaving the audience in some conflict over why exactly Abdulkader is grieving. Scenes with the trio’s mother too, played by Chafia Boudraa and criminally underused, are particularly heavy with emotional content.
Verdict
Given fresh contemporary interest by current affairs this film is a worthwhile addition to the French genre of political and social commentary and an interesting construction of the bonds of brotherhood and revolution. Go expecting a fast moving gangster flick with some higher motivations rather than a particularly informative, engaging, or insightful story of the Algerian liberation movement.
3/5
