Far from Men (Loin des hommes) (2014)

Drama

Director: David Oelhoffen
Writers: Albert Camus, David Oelhoffen
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Reda Kateb, Djemel Barek, Vincent Martin

Viggo Mortensen speaks French and Arabic in this adventure-drama set in Algeria during the 1950s war of independence.

Daru is a second-generation Spanish-Algerian schoolteacher in a remote village in the Atlas Mountains, a man who is viewed by the local Arabs as a Frenchman, and by the French as an Arab. The premise of the film is pretty good: one day, Daru unexpectedly finds himself charged with transporting a prisoner for sentencing to the distant village of Tinguit. All this, during the outbreak of the Algerian war of idependence against the French. A journey that bonds the two very different men ensues, as they encounter Arab tribesmen, Algerian freedom fighters, French soldiers, and some pretty stunning landscapes along the way.

With a pretty well-adapted screenplay by director David Oelhoffen, who found inspiration in the short story The Guest, by Algerian-French philosopher Albert Camus, with a great soundtrack signed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis and outstanding performances, especially from Mortensen but also by his Arab companion (Reda Kateb), Loin des hommes is well-crafted, thoughtful, compelling and contemplative western that deals with the plight of good men when they're forced to make impossible choices.

Plot summary from IMDb: A French teacher in a small Algerian village during the Algerian War forms an unexpected bond with a dissident, and is then ordered to turn him in to the authorities.

Awards: 5 wins & 1 nomination.
Runtime: 101 min
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