-By Jordan Mintzer
For movie details, please click here.
Free Men tells the little-known story of a handful of Muslim
agents who fought for the French Resistance, and who used the
Mosque of Paris as the base for operations that included rescuing
Jewish fugitives and assassinating Vichy informants. For this
reason alone, writer-director Ismaël Ferroukhi’s second feature is
worth a look, though it’s unfortunately a far too academic affair
that never surges with the suspense of many a World War II drama.
Despite the presence of stars Tahar Rahim (
A Prophet) and Michael Lonsdale (
Of Gods and Men), these fighters may have a hard time
busting out.
“Inspired by true stories,” as the opening credits claim,
Free
Men follows the travails of a young Algerian immigrant, Younes
(Rahim), who at the start of the film tries to make a dime peddling
black-market goods during the Nazi occupation. When he’s arrested
and threatened with torture or worse, Younes accepts to spy on the
elite community hidden with the pristine walls of the Mosque of
Paris, whose rector, Ben Ghabrit (Lonsdale), is suspected of
providing Jews with false identification papers.
Yet once Younes is exposed to the calm, ritualistic world of the
Mosque—which stands as a sort of oasis amid the murderous Vichy
regime—he begins to have a change of heart. His burgeoning
friendship with a cabaret singer (Mahmoud Shalaby) mixed up in
various underground affairs eventually pushes Younes to join the
good fight against the Germans. The evolution he makes from
illiterate factory worker to full-fledged freedom fighter is by far
the most compelling aspect in an otherwise plodding screenplay
(co-written with Alain-Michel Blanc of
The Concert).
Rather than filling his narrative with the seething tension of such
Resistance classics as Jean-Pierre Melville’s
The Army of
Shadows or Louis Malle’s
Lacombe, Lucien, Ferroukhi lets
his characters get tangled in way too much expository dialogue,
while the film’s first real action sequence doesn’t kick in until
after the one-hour mark. Shot on a small budget ($11.4 million) for
a period piece, the drama is generally restricted to indoor
settings and takes on the routine stylings of a TV movie, failing
to provide the general sense of danger that’s needed for such genre
material.
Like the hero he played in
A Prophet, Rahim portrays an
uneducated thug who manages to find his true calling with the help
of his Muslim brothers. But while the French-Algerian actor has an
undeniable screen presence that recalls a young Robert De Niro, he
never gets the chance to showcase the emotional energy of his
previous role.
As the crafty Ben Ghabrit, Lonsdale is, like always, a pleasure to
watch, though his screen time seems limited considering the
historical importance of his character. Shalaby (
Jaffa) is
engaging as the tortured singer, while Lubna Azabal (
Incendies) is underused as a
résistante hidden
behind a hijab.
—
The Hollywood Reporter
Film Review: Free Men
French-Muslim Resistance tale tackles an intriguing subject with little panache.
March 16, 2012
-By Jordan Mintzer
For movie details, please click here.
Free Men tells the little-known story of a handful of Muslim agents who fought for the French Resistance, and who used the Mosque of Paris as the base for operations that included rescuing Jewish fugitives and assassinating Vichy informants. For this reason alone, writer-director Ismaël Ferroukhi’s second feature is worth a look, though it’s unfortunately a far too academic affair that never surges with the suspense of many a World War II drama. Despite the presence of stars Tahar Rahim (
A Prophet) and Michael Lonsdale (
Of Gods and Men), these fighters may have a hard time busting out.
“Inspired by true stories,” as the opening credits claim,
Free Men follows the travails of a young Algerian immigrant, Younes (Rahim), who at the start of the film tries to make a dime peddling black-market goods during the Nazi occupation. When he’s arrested and threatened with torture or worse, Younes accepts to spy on the elite community hidden with the pristine walls of the Mosque of Paris, whose rector, Ben Ghabrit (Lonsdale), is suspected of providing Jews with false identification papers.
Yet once Younes is exposed to the calm, ritualistic world of the Mosque—which stands as a sort of oasis amid the murderous Vichy regime—he begins to have a change of heart. His burgeoning friendship with a cabaret singer (Mahmoud Shalaby) mixed up in various underground affairs eventually pushes Younes to join the good fight against the Germans. The evolution he makes from illiterate factory worker to full-fledged freedom fighter is by far the most compelling aspect in an otherwise plodding screenplay (co-written with Alain-Michel Blanc of
The Concert).
Rather than filling his narrative with the seething tension of such Resistance classics as Jean-Pierre Melville’s
The Army of Shadows or Louis Malle’s
Lacombe, Lucien, Ferroukhi lets his characters get tangled in way too much expository dialogue, while the film’s first real action sequence doesn’t kick in until after the one-hour mark. Shot on a small budget ($11.4 million) for a period piece, the drama is generally restricted to indoor settings and takes on the routine stylings of a TV movie, failing to provide the general sense of danger that’s needed for such genre material.
Like the hero he played in
A Prophet, Rahim portrays an uneducated thug who manages to find his true calling with the help of his Muslim brothers. But while the French-Algerian actor has an undeniable screen presence that recalls a young Robert De Niro, he never gets the chance to showcase the emotional energy of his previous role.
As the crafty Ben Ghabrit, Lonsdale is, like always, a pleasure to watch, though his screen time seems limited considering the historical importance of his character. Shalaby (
Jaffa) is engaging as the tortured singer, while Lubna Azabal (
Incendies) is underused as a
résistante hidden behind a hijab.
—
The Hollywood Reporter
