Outside The Law (DVD)

In 2006, Days of Glory was nominated for Best Foreign Language Oscar – a year when even Pan’s Labyrinth wasn’t good enough to beat the marvelous winner Lives Of Others. Days Of Glory left its mark though, as on one level it’s a straightforward war film, and on another a dark tale of the untold story of the Algerian effort in beating Germany and the dreadful treatment dealt out to their heroic troops. Here the cast, director and writer of that great film regather for the story of what happened in Algeria after WWII – not a sequel, but clearly pulling in all the same resources.

The good news is that it has most of the strengths of Days of Glory – superb acting, great visuals, an underlying theme of racism and unfairness – but here it’s more of a rambling, unfocused, Godfather-like epic sprawl of a story. It begins when a poor farming family are turfed out of their home in Algeria. Three young brothers are effectively homeless, and go in very different directions over the next decades. Messaoud (Zem) joins the French army fighting in Indochina, Abdelkader (Bouajila) becomes politicised and joins the Algerian independence party, while Said (Debbouze) becomes a gangster in Paris, running a seedy cabaret and secret boxing club.

Their lives keep intertwining and splitting, but it’s clear that they represent the problems and dilemmas the Algerian-French population faced after the war. The family end up in a camp, not unlike apartheid South Africa, and have to do something – the local car factory offers little more than slave labour in appalling conditions. Is the answer organised unions (represented by one brother), escape (by the soldier) or illegal wheeling and dealing (Said)?

These are complex issues and the film doesn’t shy away from diving deep into them – in one powerful scene the brothers argue over Said’s promotion of a promising boxer – will he represent Algeria or France? Will France support him? But there is a lack of focus and power compared with Days Of Glory, and the epic running time and constant references to The Godfather do not help. The acting is strong – one expects nothing less from Bouchareb’s cast – and period details spot-on, but somehow it never quite catches fire. It was also nominated for an Oscar, and like Days Of Glory it didn’t win – maybe this time that was fair enough.

Overall Verdict: An epic historical tale with plenty of detail but lacking focus and emotional pull. A worthy effort rather than an involving one.

Reviewer: Mike Martin