"Hors la loi" or "Outside the Law" is a 2010 movie, directed by Rachid Bouchareb and recently shown at the Africa film festival, that treats upon the Algerian battle for freedom at the French capital, between 1945 and 1962. The picture follows the lives of three brothers and their mother, that are spread around the globe after the 1945 Sétif massacre where innocent Algerians were murdered and slaughtered as part of the Algerian war.

The brothers, when reunited in Paris, start to come up for their rights and emerge the Algerian independence movement that fights various French militarists and correspondents as a result of what appears to be frustration and ignorance. A glamorous role is portrayed by Jamel Debbouze, internationally known for his part as the benign and sweet vegetable seller in 2001 box office hit "Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain". This casting as the innocent and thought-through character definitely suits the actor, as again his role as the innocent yet dodgy brother slams the onlooker with naturalism. It appears the actor has really lived these unusual warfare happenings, which he always involuntarily winds up to be part of.

Cinematically speaking, the movie represents an Algerian-French co-production that was unseen before: the camera's angle continually shifts between inner and outer circle, which makes for an interesting viewing eye. The spectator is continually torn between reality and subjective standpoints, although intrinsically put in its chair as a major onlooker to the unfortunate events. Furthermore, the use of colours makes the distinction between the French, dark community and the Algerian, colourful yet repressed grey society of Algerian immigrants. All in all, the cinematographic competence of the movie as a whole is impressive.

As the picture is a French majority production with co-producers in Algeria, Tunisia and Belgium, it makes for a trans-national success: the completely realistic involvement between French and Algerian lifestyles, on top of the present dispute of their co-dependence and existence hands the onlooker some material to linger on about.

This picture, despite its controversial reception by French and international press, makes for an intriguing representation of a taboo and underappreciated event. We definitely would have wanted this picture to be even more internationally renowned, although the AFF showing did make for an interesting offer. |