- Film Review
- Reviewed By Trevor Johnston
-
3 out of 5
The perilous situation of the Algerian expatriate community in Nazi-occupied Paris is explored in this fact-based wartime drama. Ismaël Ferroukhi's film takes the situation that saw North African Muslims being spared the fate which befell thousands of French Jews deported to concentration camps, and describes a mosque-based underground operation to issue fake Muslim identity papers to Algerian Jews living in the French capital. The story is actually told from the perspective of black marketeer Younes (Tahar Rahim, so good in A Prophet) who finds himself putting his life at risk for the Resistance cause, though the standout performance comes from veteran Michel Lonsdale as the mosque's wily, real-life cleric, who defied the Nazis and the French police. This is a largely untold true story, and the material's fascinating, but the film does suffer from a lack of suspense. It's a drama that intrigues but never quite thrills, even if Rahim is never less than watchable as the small-time crook who discovers his conscience.
Plot Summary
An Algerian black marketeer in Nazi-occupied France is arrested and forced to become a spy for the Vichy government. When he infiltrates a suspected resistance movement operating out of a Mosque, he is inspired by the rebels' heroism, and joins the fight against the invaders. Second World War drama, starring Tahar Rahim and Michael Lonsdale. In French.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Younes
- Tahar Rahim
- Si Kaddour Ben Ghabrit
- Michel Lonsdale
- Salim
- Mahmoud Shalaby
- Warba Shlimane aka Leila
- Lubna Azabal
- Major von Ratibor
- Christopher Buchholz
- Ali
- Farid Larbi
- Francis
- Stéphane Rideau
- Maryvonne
- Marie Berto
- Omar
- Zakariya Gouram
- Larbi
- Slimane Dazi
Crew
- Director
- Ismaël Ferroukhi
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