Outside the Law (2010 film)
Encyclopedia
Outside the Law is a 2010 drama film directed by Rachid Bouchareb
, starring Jamel Debbouze
, Roschdy Zem
and Sami Bouajila
. The story takes place between 1945 and 1962 and focuses on the lives of three Algerian brothers in France, set to the backdrop of the Algerian independence movement and the Algerian War. It is a standalone follow-up to Bouchareb's 2006 film Days of Glory, which was set during World War II
. Outside the Law was a French majority production with co-producers in Algeria, Tunisia and Belgium.
A historically unorthodox portrayal of the 1945 Sétif massacre sparked a political controversy in France. In reviews the film was compared to Westerns
and gangster films, and critics made observations about how the independence activists were likened to the French Resistance
during World War II. Outside the Law represented Algeria at the 83rd Academy Awards
, where it was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film
.
's 2006 film Days of Glory, about Africans who fought for France in World War II
, but shares many of the main actors, and starts at the place in history where the previous film ended. Bouchareb said: "you can't help but associate them, because it's the same soldiers who fought for France against Germany, a lot of them were the same soldiers that later went on to fight France. So historically speaking, the same group of people had a lot going on early in their lives. When I was interviewing people for Days of Glory a lot of the people I was talking to were also telling me what happened after, which is how I came to write the other movie." Bouchareb researched the subject for nine months, primarily by interviewing people. Finishing the screenplay took two years.
The film was written with actors Jamel Debbouze
, Roschdy Zem
and Sami Bouajila
in mind from the beginning. Debbouze described his role's place as the youngest brother, and stronger ties to the family, as a key for approaching the character. Zem's character was inspired by the character played by Sterling Hayden
in The Asphalt Jungle
. Zem said: "When I saw the movie, it was obvious what Rachid was looking for: a combination of brute force and restraint." Bouajila said about developing his character: "I tried to work out how, through his convictions or pride, a man can fall into the trap of his own charisma and drag other people with him. When everything spirals out of his control, he has to face himself and realizes that he is only a man."
The 19.5 million euro production was led by France's Tessalit Productions in co-production with France 2
, France 3
and companies in Algeria, Tunisia and Belgium. Funding was granted by the National Center of Cinematography and via pre-sales to Canal+
. Out of the total investment, 59% came from France, 21% Algeria, 10% Tunisia and 10% Belgium.
Filming started at the end of July 2009 and lasted five months. Approximately 90% of the film was shot in studio. The team moved between facilities and locations in Paris, Algeria, Tunisia, the Belgian cities Charleroi
and Brussels, Germany and the United States, with scenes set at the United Nations Headquarters
.
. French distribution was handled by StudioCanal
and the premiere took place on 22 September 2010. It was released in Algeria on 6 October the same year. In the United states the film was distributed through Cohen Media Group, which released it in New York on 3 November, Los Angeles on 10 November and in a limited run throughout the country on 26 November.
compared the film's narrative to film noir
and Western
films such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
. Lorrain argued that the form resulted in exaggeration and clumsiness which burdened the film, and evoked questions about the balance between cinema as a conveyor of truth and cinema as light entertainment. Lorrain continued to note that with a couple of exceptions, "the French have the villainous role ... with a comparison that risks to make teeth grind: the French are likened to the Germans when the Algerians endorse the costumes of resistance
members. Difficult to leave Outside the Law without a feeling of guilt, already caused with Days of Glory by Bouchareb, who, by filming the opposite Maghrebin
side, presses where it hurts in the official history of France. At the same time, he doesn't provide a rosy picture of the FLN
, far from that." Le Monde
s Thomas Sotinel criticised the film for using stereotypes, and how too much artifice in the narrative "stiffles the efforts of the actors", concluding that "Outside the Law collapses under the weight of the spectacle." Regarding the controversies, Fayçal Métaoui, who reviewed the film for the Algerian newspaper El Watan
, wrote: "Some French critics believed they saw 'an unacceptable parallel' between the struggle against the hideous Nazi regime and the French colonial presence in Algeria
. This does not seem to be the intention of Outside the Law as the aim was to show that France hadn't held a certain promise to the Algerians. ... The film, which is perfect on the aesthetical level and far from a turkey, may be entered in the anti-colonial register but not anti-French." Métaoui also complimented that Bouchareb had chosen to portray the violent clashes between the Algerian National Movement
and the National Liberation Front, an episode "the official Algerian history has completely ignored".
The Philadelphia Inquirer
published a review by Carrie Rickey, who wrote: "Under the obvious influence of Francis Ford Coppola
, Bouchareb frames his shadow-ridden guerrilla heroes as the Algerian counterparts of the Corleones
", referring to the American film The Godfather
, and further that Outside the Law owes "an enormous debt to Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows (1969), about French resistance fighters one-minded in their goal to subvert Nazis". Rickey continued: "Bouchareb is sometimes a little too one-minded: His movie might have been richer emotionally had he written scenes showing the characters' domestic lives and not strictly their professional spheres." Stephen Holden
of The New York Times
called Outside the Law a "didactic, unashamedly manipulative film", and also saw parallels to The Godfather and Army of Shadows: "Those are mighty shoes to fill, and as powerful and well made as it is, Outside the Law is too schematic and single-minded to lodge itself in your mind as a fully realized cinematic epic. Its few female characters are sketchy at best."
, a member of the National Assembly for the UMP
, appealed for a review by the Defence Historical Service
as soon as he heard about the project. After having studied the script, the Defence Historical Service concluded that "the errors and anachronisms are so many and so gross that they can be identified by any historian. ... The numerous improbabilities present in the scenario show that the writing of the latter was not preceded by a serious historical study." The center of the controversy was the depiction of the 1945 Sétif massacre early in the film. The report elaborated: "The director wants to suggest that on May 8, 1945, Muslims in Sétif
were blindly massacred by Europeans, whereas it's the contrary that transpired[.] ... [A]ll historians agree on that ... Europeans lashed out against Muslims in response to Muslims massacring Europeans." This reaction is at odds with mainstream history, which concluded that after restoring order in the town, French military and police then carried out a series of reprisals and summary executions of native civilians. Luca also criticized the decision to give public funding to a film which he considered "anti-French". Mustapha Orif, one of the film's co-producers, responded to the accusations and defended the film's portrayal of the massacre: "Rachid Bouchareb interviewed many people, witnesses and historians. From this point of view, I do not think at all that he has deviated from historical reality."
reported that the worldwide revenues of Outside the Law corresponded to 3,298,780 US dollars.
at the 83rd Academy Awards
, having been submitted by Algeria. It was the third time a film directed by Bouchared was nominated in the category, after Dust of Life
in 1996 and Days of Glory in 2007.
Rachid Bouchareb
Rachid Bouchareb is a French film director of Algerian descent.From 1977 to 1983, he worked as an assistant director for France’s state television production company, Société française de production . Subsequetly, he worked for broadcasters TF1 and Antenne 2...
, starring Jamel Debbouze
Jamel Debbouze
Jamel Debbouze is an actor, comedian and producer of Moroccan descent.-Biography:Debbouze is the oldest of five brothers. He was born in Paris, France, but his family moved to Morocco the following year...
, Roschdy Zem
Roschdy Zem
Roschdy Zem is a French actor of Moroccan descent. He shared the award for Best Actor for his role in the film "Days of Glory" at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival....
and Sami Bouajila
Sami Bouajila
Sami Bouajila is a French award-winning actor of Tunisian origin.Bouajila's grandfather was a Berber born in Tripoli, Libya and immigrated to Tunisia. Bouajila's father decided to immigrate to France in 1956. Sami was born and grew up in Échirolles, a suburb south of Grenoble...
. The story takes place between 1945 and 1962 and focuses on the lives of three Algerian brothers in France, set to the backdrop of the Algerian independence movement and the Algerian War. It is a standalone follow-up to Bouchareb's 2006 film Days of Glory, which was set during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Outside the Law was a French majority production with co-producers in Algeria, Tunisia and Belgium.
A historically unorthodox portrayal of the 1945 Sétif massacre sparked a political controversy in France. In reviews the film was compared to Westerns
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
and gangster films, and critics made observations about how the independence activists were likened to the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
during World War II. Outside the Law represented Algeria at the 83rd Academy Awards
83rd Academy Awards
The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2010 and took place February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, Academy Awards ...
, where it was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
.
Cast
- Jamel DebbouzeJamel DebbouzeJamel Debbouze is an actor, comedian and producer of Moroccan descent.-Biography:Debbouze is the oldest of five brothers. He was born in Paris, France, but his family moved to Morocco the following year...
as Saïd - Roschdy ZemRoschdy ZemRoschdy Zem is a French actor of Moroccan descent. He shared the award for Best Actor for his role in the film "Days of Glory" at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival....
as Messaoud - Sami BouajilaSami BouajilaSami Bouajila is a French award-winning actor of Tunisian origin.Bouajila's grandfather was a Berber born in Tripoli, Libya and immigrated to Tunisia. Bouajila's father decided to immigrate to France in 1956. Sami was born and grew up in Échirolles, a suburb south of Grenoble...
as Abdelkader - Bernard BlancanBernard BlancanBernard Blancan is a French actor. He has appeared in over 85 films and television shows since 1989. He shared the award for Best Actor for his role in Days of Glory at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.-Selected filmography:...
as Colonel Faivre - Chafia Boudraa as the mother
- Sabrina Seyvecou as Hélène
- Assaad BouabAssaad BouabAssaad Bouab is a Moroccan actor whose first co-starring role is Whatever Lola Wants, directed by Nabil Ayouch and co-starring Laura Ramsey as Lola. The film premiered 11 December 2007 at the Dubai International Film Festival. Bouab attended Cours Florent from 1999 to 2002, and graduated from...
as Ali - Thibault De Montalembert as Morvan
- Samir Guesmi as Otmani
- Jean Pierre Lorit as Picot
- Ahmed Benaissa as the father
- Larbi ZekkalLarbi Zekkal-Personal life:Larbi Zekkal was born on May 19, 1934 in Algiers, Algeria. He died on September 17, 2010 in Algiers, Algeria at age 76 after falling from his balcony, and was buried in the Sidi M’hamed cemetery.-Acting career:...
as Le caïd - Louiza Nehar as Zohra
- Mourad Khen as Sanjak
- Mohamed Djouhri as the trainer
- Mustapha Bendou as Brahim
- Abdelkader Secteur as Hamid
Production
Outside the Law was not written as a direct sequel to Rachid BoucharebRachid Bouchareb
Rachid Bouchareb is a French film director of Algerian descent.From 1977 to 1983, he worked as an assistant director for France’s state television production company, Société française de production . Subsequetly, he worked for broadcasters TF1 and Antenne 2...
's 2006 film Days of Glory, about Africans who fought for France in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, but shares many of the main actors, and starts at the place in history where the previous film ended. Bouchareb said: "you can't help but associate them, because it's the same soldiers who fought for France against Germany, a lot of them were the same soldiers that later went on to fight France. So historically speaking, the same group of people had a lot going on early in their lives. When I was interviewing people for Days of Glory a lot of the people I was talking to were also telling me what happened after, which is how I came to write the other movie." Bouchareb researched the subject for nine months, primarily by interviewing people. Finishing the screenplay took two years.
The film was written with actors Jamel Debbouze
Jamel Debbouze
Jamel Debbouze is an actor, comedian and producer of Moroccan descent.-Biography:Debbouze is the oldest of five brothers. He was born in Paris, France, but his family moved to Morocco the following year...
, Roschdy Zem
Roschdy Zem
Roschdy Zem is a French actor of Moroccan descent. He shared the award for Best Actor for his role in the film "Days of Glory" at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival....
and Sami Bouajila
Sami Bouajila
Sami Bouajila is a French award-winning actor of Tunisian origin.Bouajila's grandfather was a Berber born in Tripoli, Libya and immigrated to Tunisia. Bouajila's father decided to immigrate to France in 1956. Sami was born and grew up in Échirolles, a suburb south of Grenoble...
in mind from the beginning. Debbouze described his role's place as the youngest brother, and stronger ties to the family, as a key for approaching the character. Zem's character was inspired by the character played by Sterling Hayden
Sterling Hayden
Sterling Hayden was an American actor and author. For most of his career as a leading man, he specialized in westerns and film noir, such as Johnny Guitar, The Asphalt Jungle and The Killing. Later on he became noted as a character actor for such roles as Gen. Jack D. Ripper in Dr...
in The Asphalt Jungle
The Asphalt Jungle
The Asphalt Jungle is a 1950 film noir directed by John Huston. The caper film is based on the novel of the same name by W. R. Burnett and stars an ensemble cast including Sterling Hayden, Jean Hagen, Sam Jaffe, Louis Calhern, James Whitmore, and, in a minor but key role, Marilyn Monroe, an unknown...
. Zem said: "When I saw the movie, it was obvious what Rachid was looking for: a combination of brute force and restraint." Bouajila said about developing his character: "I tried to work out how, through his convictions or pride, a man can fall into the trap of his own charisma and drag other people with him. When everything spirals out of his control, he has to face himself and realizes that he is only a man."
The 19.5 million euro production was led by France's Tessalit Productions in co-production with France 2
France 2
France 2 is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4, France 5 and France Ô...
, France 3
France 3
France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô....
and companies in Algeria, Tunisia and Belgium. Funding was granted by the National Center of Cinematography and via pre-sales to Canal+
Canal+
Canal+ is a French premium pay television channel launched in 1984. It is 80% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA. The channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted...
. Out of the total investment, 59% came from France, 21% Algeria, 10% Tunisia and 10% Belgium.
Filming started at the end of July 2009 and lasted five months. Approximately 90% of the film was shot in studio. The team moved between facilities and locations in Paris, Algeria, Tunisia, the Belgian cities Charleroi
Charleroi
Charleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. , the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of and had a total population of 522,522 as of 1 January 2008, ranking it as...
and Brussels, Germany and the United States, with scenes set at the United Nations Headquarters
United Nations headquarters
The headquarters of the United Nations is a complex in New York City. The complex has served as the official headquarters of the United Nations since its completion in 1952. It is located in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, on spacious grounds overlooking the East River...
.
Reception
The film premiered on 21 May in competition at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival2010 Cannes Film Festival
The 63rd annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 12 to May 23, 2010, in Cannes, France. The Cannes Film Festival, hailed as being one of the most recognized and prestigious film festivals worldwide, was founded in 1946. It consists of having films screened in and out of competition during the...
. French distribution was handled by StudioCanal
StudioCanal
StudioCanal is a French-based production and distribution company that owns the third-largest film library in the world...
and the premiere took place on 22 September 2010. It was released in Algeria on 6 October the same year. In the United states the film was distributed through Cohen Media Group, which released it in New York on 3 November, Los Angeles on 10 November and in a limited run throughout the country on 26 November.
Critical response
François-Guillaume Lorrain of Le PointLe Point
Le Point is a French weekly news magazine. It was founded in 1972 by a group of journalists who had, one year earlier, left the editorial team of L'Express, which was then owned by Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, a député of the Parti Radical...
compared the film's narrative to film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
and Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
films such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach in the title roles. The screenplay was written by Age & Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni and Leone, based on a story by Vincenzoni and Leone...
. Lorrain argued that the form resulted in exaggeration and clumsiness which burdened the film, and evoked questions about the balance between cinema as a conveyor of truth and cinema as light entertainment. Lorrain continued to note that with a couple of exceptions, "the French have the villainous role ... with a comparison that risks to make teeth grind: the French are likened to the Germans when the Algerians endorse the costumes of resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
members. Difficult to leave Outside the Law without a feeling of guilt, already caused with Days of Glory by Bouchareb, who, by filming the opposite Maghrebin
Maghreb people
Maghrebis or Maghrebian people or Maghrebians are the inhabitants of the Maghreb countries . During Al-Andalus, Maghrebis were known as Moors.-Origins:...
side, presses where it hurts in the official history of France. At the same time, he doesn't provide a rosy picture of the FLN
National Liberation Front (Algeria)
The National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Algeria. It was set up on November 1, 1954 as a merger of other smaller groups, to obtain independence for Algeria from France.- Anticolonial struggle :...
, far from that." Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
s Thomas Sotinel criticised the film for using stereotypes, and how too much artifice in the narrative "stiffles the efforts of the actors", concluding that "Outside the Law collapses under the weight of the spectacle." Regarding the controversies, Fayçal Métaoui, who reviewed the film for the Algerian newspaper El Watan
El Watan
El Watan is an independent newspaper in Algeria. The paper was founded in 1990 after Omar Belhouchet and nineteen colleagues left the FLN government-owned newspaper El Moudjahid ....
, wrote: "Some French critics believed they saw 'an unacceptable parallel' between the struggle against the hideous Nazi regime and the French colonial presence in Algeria
French Algeria
French Algeria lasted from 1830 to 1962, under a variety of governmental systems. From 1848 until independence, the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria was administered as an integral part of France, much like Corsica and Réunion are to this day. The vast arid interior of Algeria, like the rest...
. This does not seem to be the intention of Outside the Law as the aim was to show that France hadn't held a certain promise to the Algerians. ... The film, which is perfect on the aesthetical level and far from a turkey, may be entered in the anti-colonial register but not anti-French." Métaoui also complimented that Bouchareb had chosen to portray the violent clashes between the Algerian National Movement
Algerian National Movement
The Algerian National Movement was an organization founded to counteract the efforts of the Front de Libération Nationale . It was supported and, some say, partly financed by the French who used it to validate the claim that the FLN was not the sole representative of Algerian desires.It was...
and the National Liberation Front, an episode "the official Algerian history has completely ignored".
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the...
published a review by Carrie Rickey, who wrote: "Under the obvious influence of Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
, Bouchareb frames his shadow-ridden guerrilla heroes as the Algerian counterparts of the Corleones
Corleone family
The Corleone family is a fictional Sicilian Mafia family settled in New York City. The family was created by Mario Puzo and appears in his 1969 novel The Godfather, as well as the acclaimed film trilogy of the same name directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The family was founded by Vito Corleone , who...
", referring to the American film The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
, and further that Outside the Law owes "an enormous debt to Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows (1969), about French resistance fighters one-minded in their goal to subvert Nazis". Rickey continued: "Bouchareb is sometimes a little too one-minded: His movie might have been richer emotionally had he written scenes showing the characters' domestic lives and not strictly their professional spheres." Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called Outside the Law a "didactic, unashamedly manipulative film", and also saw parallels to The Godfather and Army of Shadows: "Those are mighty shoes to fill, and as powerful and well made as it is, Outside the Law is too schematic and single-minded to lodge itself in your mind as a fully realized cinematic epic. Its few female characters are sketchy at best."
Political reactions
Already before the film premiered it was met by political controversy in France. Lionnel LucaLionnel Luca
Lionnel Luca is a member of the National Assembly of France. Of Romanian origin, he represents the Alpes-Maritimes department, and is a member of the Union for a Popular Movement.-External links:...
, a member of the National Assembly for the UMP
Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party...
, appealed for a review by the Defence Historical Service
Defence Historical Service
In France, the Defence Historical Service is the archives centre of Ministry of Defence and its armed forces. It was set up by decree in 2005....
as soon as he heard about the project. After having studied the script, the Defence Historical Service concluded that "the errors and anachronisms are so many and so gross that they can be identified by any historian. ... The numerous improbabilities present in the scenario show that the writing of the latter was not preceded by a serious historical study." The center of the controversy was the depiction of the 1945 Sétif massacre early in the film. The report elaborated: "The director wants to suggest that on May 8, 1945, Muslims in Sétif
Sétif
Sétif |Colonia]]) is a town in northeastern Algeria. It is the capital of Sétif Province and it has a population of 239,195 inhabitants as of the 1998 census. Setif is located to the east of Algiers and is the second most important Wilaya after the country's capital. It is 1,096 meters above sea...
were blindly massacred by Europeans, whereas it's the contrary that transpired[.] ... [A]ll historians agree on that ... Europeans lashed out against Muslims in response to Muslims massacring Europeans." This reaction is at odds with mainstream history, which concluded that after restoring order in the town, French military and police then carried out a series of reprisals and summary executions of native civilians. Luca also criticized the decision to give public funding to a film which he considered "anti-French". Mustapha Orif, one of the film's co-producers, responded to the accusations and defended the film's portrayal of the massacre: "Rachid Bouchareb interviewed many people, witnesses and historians. From this point of view, I do not think at all that he has deviated from historical reality."
Box office
The film opened on 400 screens in France with 195,242 admissions after one week, which equaled a fifth place on the domestic box-office chart. The number of screens was increased to 437 for the second week but the film dropped to eight place on the chart. When the theatrical run ended, a total of 393,335 tickets had been sold. This was considerably less than the 3,227,502 that Days of Glory attained four years earlier. As of 10 April 2011, Box Office MojoBox Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. Brandon Gray started the site in 1999. In 2002, Gray partnered with Sean Saulsbury and they grew the site to nearly two million readers when, in July 2008, the company was purchased by Amazon.com through...
reported that the worldwide revenues of Outside the Law corresponded to 3,298,780 US dollars.
Accolades
The film was nominated for Best Screenplay at the 16th Lumière Awards, voted by foreign journalists who work in Paris. It was selected as one of the five nominees for Best Foreign Language FilmAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
at the 83rd Academy Awards
83rd Academy Awards
The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2010 and took place February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, Academy Awards ...
, having been submitted by Algeria. It was the third time a film directed by Bouchared was nominated in the category, after Dust of Life
Dust of Life
Poussières de vie is a 1995 French drama film directed by Rachid Bouchareb. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film as an Algerian submission.-Cast:* Daniel Guyant as Son* Gilles Chitlaphone as Bob...
in 1996 and Days of Glory in 2007.
Sequel
Bouchareb has stated his desire to make a third part that would end a trilogy that started with Days of Glory and continued with Outside the Law. He hopes to be able to produce it four or five years after Outside the Law. It will be a thematical continuation of the two previous films and focus on "50 years of immigration".See also
- Algeria–France relations
- BeurBeurBeur is a colloquial term to designate French-born people whose parents are immigrants from North Africa. The word was coined by reversing the syllables of the word arabe, which means Arabic or Arab in French. For example, "arabe" becomes "a-ra-beu" then "beu-ra-a" and "beur" by contraction. The...
- Cinema of FranceCinema of FranceThe Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...
- List of Algerian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of submissions to the 83rd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film