Free Men

Another cracking film this week. Nice music too.

One of the things I liked about it was the characters with little or no dialogue. I'm thinking of the old beggar outside the mosque, who had very little to say and yet came across as something more than just a disinterested observer of the goings on. The other one I noticed was the little old lady who appeared in close up a few times when Younes visited the night club. Maybe it's an obligatory construct of French film-making that demands these silent onlookers who make their contribution via facial expressions and demeanour rather than any dialogue. Not unlike the bar flies I mentioned in our review of  “Le Havre”. I suppose this is something you can do in a film which wouldn't be so easy on the stage, are there any Shakespearean equivalents, I wonder? Does anyone out there know?

Of Gods and Men

Ben Ghabrit, the director of the mosque (a real person by the way) was not played by a Moroccan, or even an  Arab, but by a  Frenchman with the improbably English name of Michael Lonsdale. If he looked familiar, you may have seen him in one of our films last season, “Of Gods and Men”, an apposite role reversal as in that film he played a Catholic monk in Algeria. He has a huge list of credits on IMDB, but whether he specialises in religious roles, I couldn't say.

Another star of this film was, of course, the Paris Mosque. According to Wikipedia, which is my main source of information of all kinds, “The mosque was founded in 1926 as a token of gratitude, after World War I, to the Muslim tirailleurs from France's Colonial Empire, of whom some 100,000 died fighting against Germany.” Apparently, the events depicted were true. There's also a web-site for the mosque, in French, with a guided tour. It's a beautiful place. I've put the links below.

And if 100,000 Algerians died fighting for France against Kaiser Bill, that's not dissimilar to the numbers of Africans and Asians who died for our King and country in the same war. Algeria finally achieved independence in 1962.

I should also mention that there were a couple of times during the film when we heard some odd sound interference. Fortunately the interruptions were only brief and I hope they didn't affect your enjoyment of the film. I was concerned that there might be a problem with our equipment but I've checked it out today and I can confirm that the problem was with a faulty DVD pressing. (Do DVDs have pressings?)

The feedback score was 77% and the audience comments are below:

A	A tense and gripping story
A	Excellent. Wonderful music and songs great acting and brilliant story
A	Loved the music, the acting, the story I knew nothing about.
A	Endearing characters in an uncontrived setting – thoroughly enjoyable.
A	Good one!
A	AN ABSORBING FILM ABOUT A PART OF THE WAR I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT. EXCELLENT.
B	Tense film about conditions under occupation in Paris where survival was the upmost. Well acted – atmospheric scenes.
B	A different perspective on wartime Paris – Very interesting. Très intéressant!
B	An interesting and different perspective on the German occupation of Paris.
B	A terrific story of what men and women will do for their freedom.
B	An interesting perspective on the occupation. I enjoyed that it was based on fact.
B	Interesting from a historical point of view. A side of life unknown to me.
B	Interesting film, didn't know that Muslims supported French resistance and helped to protect Jews from Nazis Well acted, understated
B
C	Interesting though a little slow.
C	Well acted. I found it confusing.
C
C
C	Enjoyable.
C	Disjointed – slightly improbable but stimulating
C	Very interesting depiction of that era – rang true to life.
C	A community in the war that I knew nothing about. V. interesting
C

On-line:

Rotten Tomatoes audience rating 63%:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/free_men/

Philip French, Observer:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/may/27/free-men-french-review

3 Stars – Steve Rose, Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/may/24/free-men-review

IMDB, 6.4 out of 10:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1699185/

Wikipedia Entry for the Paris Mosque:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Mosque

And a link to the web-site of the mosque:
http://www.mosquee-de-paris.org