ActionDramaHistoryWar

Outside the Law

- Three brothers. One destiny. Freedom at all costs.

After losing their family home in Algeria in the 1920s, three brothers and their mother are scattered across the globe. Messaoud joins the French army fighting in Indochina; Abdelkader becomes a leader of the Algerian independence movement in France and Saïd moves to Paris to make his fortune in the shady clubs and boxing halls of Pigalle.

Release Date : 2010-09-21

Language :ArabicFrench

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Agence Algérienne pour le Rayonnement CulturelFrance 3 CinémaKissfilmsNovak ProdStudioCanalRTBFFrance 2 CinémaEagle PicturesQuinta Studio TunisieCNCCanal+

Production Country : AlgeriaBelgiumFranceItalyTunisia

Alternative Titles : Outside The Law

Cast

Character Name : Saïd

Original Name : Jamel Debbouze

Gender : Male

Character Name : Messaoud

Original Name : Roschdy Zem

Gender : Male

Character Name : Abdelkader

Original Name : Sami Bouajila

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mother

Original Name : Chafia Boudraa

Gender : Female

Character Name : Faivre

Original Name : Bernard Blancan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Hélène

Original Name : Sabrina Seyvecou

Gender : Female

Character Name : Ali

Original Name : Assaad Bouab

Gender : Male

Character Name : Morvan

Original Name : Thibault de Montalembert

Gender : Male

Character Name : Otmani

Original Name : Samir Guesmi

Gender : Male

Character Name : Picot

Original Name : Jean-Pierre Lorit

Gender : Male

Character Name : Father

Original Name : Ahmed Benaissa

Gender : Male

Character Name : Boss

Original Name : Larbi Zekkal

Gender : Male

Character Name : Zohra

Original Name : Louisa Nehar

Gender : Male

Character Name : Sanjak

Original Name : Mourad Khen

Gender : Male

Character Name : Coach

Original Name : Mohamed Djouhari

Gender : Male

Character Name : Militant tailor

Original Name : Mostefa Djadjam

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cabaret employee

Original Name : Damien Bonnard

Gender : Male

Reviews

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2024-03-31

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.