Guess what... I never took History in school. It was not through lack of want, believe me. So it was only during this World Cup I discovered( From the commentators, no less ) that GASP Algeria used to belong to France. And now, I find myself watching a film about that very struggle, for them be an independent nation. Coincidence, no?Encompassing about 40 years, Outside The Law centres around One Algerian family as they are forced to give up their lands and move into skid row. There are three brothers, and as they grow up we see them take on very different fates: One becomes a soldier, the other a revolutionary while inside prison, and the last sibling joins the criminal underworld. Eventually, all their paths will collide in the dramatic (and long running) saga of Algeria's eventually successful quest to govern itself. Will Scotland follow suit? Don't hold your breathe.A wise man once told me: "There is no good film that is too long, and no bad film that is too short". Never a truer word spoken in this case. as it clocks in at just over two hours... yet I was enraptured till the (very bitter) end. The twist-laden plot takes us from one well directed set piece to another, as bullets fly like confetti and bodies are strewn around without mercy. But despite all this chaos, it still has the time for quieter reflective passages which are just as effective. In fact, maybe even more so. It all combines to create a jewel of a movie. Fantastic.Oh and if there are historic inaccuracies in this script (Which I'm sure there will be) I'm not going to mark it down for that. I'm a critic, not a teacher. Mind you, considering how clueless most of the educators I've met seem to be, maybe that's just as well... 8/10

There's no doubting that this is a well made film with some top acting talent, however there are two elements to the storytelling the let it down massively in my humble opinion.1. It doesn't seem to know exactly what it's central theme/message is.Initially the film presents a very unbiased picture of the evils committed by both sides of this particular struggle, and it also shows quite clearly how the actions of the brothers and the FLN movement moved into violent injustice and terrorism when it suited them to do so.Basically the film starts by presenting a clear warning about the dangers of political ideology, and the fact that using violence and terrorism is never a good or fruitful thing to do, but then this message starts to get lost when, by the end of the film, it almost appears as if all the violent injustice was justified by the outcome of Algerian liberation (the end justifies the means).I'm not sure the director intended this, it's just the way it can be read by the structuring of the film.2. It didn't quite know whether it was a character exploration, or an historical expositionThe films starts by establishing the three brothers as the central characters, but then quickly moves into a series of FLN related terrorist activities, and the police response to these, before finishing up focusing briefly on the brothers again at the end.To me this was a real shame, because I think that what this film never really gave us was any sense of the interior motivations and struggles of the three brothers - and this made them look like little more than mindless thugs willing to kill and maim for their ideology without the usual interior human ethical conflict - basically they come across like psychopaths at times during this film. In fact, in places it even has you rooting for the other side and almost feeling that they were justified in the atrocities they perpetrated in response to the FLN.As a result of this lack of character exploration after the first 30 minutes or so later scenes of a character-focused nature seem a little bit contrived and out of place, like the scene with the two brothers sitting on the bus listening to American 50's rock and disagreeing about its musical quality - if more focus had been given to the characters themselves earlier on, then this scene would have made a lot more sense, and we would have been far more connected to it as an audience, but instead it just came across as odd, like a very hollow attempt at instilling some sort of sense of normalcy and humanity.This film is well made, but unfortunately these two storytelling failings take all the gloss of what could have been a 10/10 production.

Well I neither have the expert historical perspective or the expertise on films of other reviewers, but I'm just an ordinary person who went to see this movie. I loved it because it really shows how people can get sucked into resistance, even if they're very ordinary and not particularly brave, because the other option of not doing anything is so awful. I thought the acting was very convincing and I learnt a lot about that time in Algeria. I spend a lot of time in the south of France so I think this helped me to understand the history of some of the people I know.Goodness me this site wants me to write 10 lines. No wonder everyone else's reviews are so long. I watched it a long time ago when it first came out and so I don't have a clear memory of details, just the overall impression, and I wanted to share that.

I was expecting a bit more from this movie. The conflict in mainland France between the French government and Algerians fighting for independence between the 1940's and the 1960's seems ready made material for a gripping movie.The film wears its heart on its sleeve. The first scene shows an Algerian farmer being given a few days to vacate his land to allow a French colonist take it over. The farmers three sons are the main protagonists for the rest of the film. One joins the French army, one is arrested in 1945 and imprisoned in France and the third moves to France with their mother in the hope of finding a better life.We follow the brothers progress as two of them become involved in the independence movement and the third makes his money as a pimp and and nightclub owner.For some reason, even though the injustices perpetrated by the French government are undoubtedly heinous the movie never convinced me to empathise with the brothers situation. I thought the film dragged a lot as we follow the progress of their differing but intersecting careers through the 1950's and early 1960's.The movie's climax is a rather traditional shoot out with the police followed by a chase through the Paris metro.While the movie is technically well made and the acting in general is excellent for me it is a chance missed to make a great movie about this traumatic period in the relationship between France and Algeria.