Outside the Law

Movie: Outside the Law

Cast:    Jamel Debbouze          (Said)

            Roschdy Zem              (Messaoud)

            Sami Bouajila              (Abdelkader)

Genre: Historical drama, subtitled

Synopsis: The movie opens shortly after World War II.  Algeria is still a French colony.  Said, Messaoud, and Abdelkader are three young Nigerian brothers.  When their family is ordered off of their ancestral land, they move to the city with their mother and father.  There we witness the violent response of the government to Algerian’s seeking to have their country freed from French rule.

The movie jumps to the late 1950’s.  Abdelkader has been a political prisoner in Paris for several years.  When he is released from prison, he joins the FLN – an Algerian group dedicated the making Algeria a free nation.  Messaoud is in the French army fighting in Indo-China.  Said has moved with his mother to Paris where he has embarked on a life of shady and sometimes criminal activity.  The three brothers reunite in Paris.  Abdelkader and becomes a leader of the FLN.  The movie tracks the lives of the three brothers during the last few years of the fight for Algerian independence where clashes in France between the government and the FLN reache shocking levels of bloody violence.

My two cents: A pretty interesting movie.  I knew virtually nothing about the history of Algeria and its colonization by France.  The movie showed me at least some of the reasons for the tension between the Muslim population of France and the government.  It has definitely made me resolve to do some research on the subject to see just how close the movie followed the actual history of the conflict.

Bottom line: worth checking out, especially for those with an interest in modern history.

[29]