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| Mohamed (Reda Kateb) and Daru (Viggo Mortensen) caught in the conflict |
David Oelhoffen's Far from Men (Loin des hommes) is masterful film storytelling based on a short story by Albert Camus and set in 1954 French colonial Algeria on the eve of the war of independence. With a strong performance by multilingual actor, Viggo Mortensen, the desolate breathtaking imagery captured by cinematographer, Guillaume Deffontaines and the atmospheric music of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, this somewhat brutal road trip explores notions of exile, hidden identity and the juxtaposition of cultural differences over which individuals must cope with little direct control.
The storyline is centred on school teacher and reserve officer, Daru (Viggo Mortensen), living in quiet isolation on the edge of the Atlas Mountains, who is given the task of escorting alleged murderer, Mohamed (Reda Kateb) to the nearest town for his trial. The authorities are streteched thin due to the growing insurrection and there is no-one else to carry out this mission. Daru's task is complicated by family of Mohamed's victim being in pursuit for blood revenge and the two men find themselves caught in direct conflict between the French Army and the armed insurrectionists. Daru is torn between differing loyalties to both the French State and to Algeria as it transpires that many of the independence fighters are the former soldiers whom he commanded in WWII. Mohamed also strikes a sympathetic figure for, as Daru learns, the only way Mohamed can avoid an escalating family blood feud is for the French authorities to place him on trial and execute him.
This is a film which conveys how the individual can be overwhelmed by a violent system, the scale of events and an increasingly desperate reality. Yet in a small way, one man can still make a difference.
The storyline is centred on school teacher and reserve officer, Daru (Viggo Mortensen), living in quiet isolation on the edge of the Atlas Mountains, who is given the task of escorting alleged murderer, Mohamed (Reda Kateb) to the nearest town for his trial. The authorities are streteched thin due to the growing insurrection and there is no-one else to carry out this mission. Daru's task is complicated by family of Mohamed's victim being in pursuit for blood revenge and the two men find themselves caught in direct conflict between the French Army and the armed insurrectionists. Daru is torn between differing loyalties to both the French State and to Algeria as it transpires that many of the independence fighters are the former soldiers whom he commanded in WWII. Mohamed also strikes a sympathetic figure for, as Daru learns, the only way Mohamed can avoid an escalating family blood feud is for the French authorities to place him on trial and execute him.
This is a film which conveys how the individual can be overwhelmed by a violent system, the scale of events and an increasingly desperate reality. Yet in a small way, one man can still make a difference.
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