Outside the Law main backdrop
Outside the Law main poster

Outside the Law

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6.6/10 • 192

2010-09-212h 17m

ActionDramaHistoryWar

Three brothers. One destiny. Freedom at all costs.

After losing their family home in Algeria in the 1920s, three brothers and their mother are scattered across the globe. Messaoud joins the French army fighting in Indochina; Abdelkader becomes a leader of the Algerian independence movement in France and Saïd moves to Paris to make his fortune in the shady clubs and boxing halls of Pigalle.

Directors
Rachid Bouchareb
Editors
Yannick Kergoat

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Jamel Debbouze

    Jamel Debbouze

    Saïd

  2. Roschdy Zem

    Roschdy Zem

    Messaoud

  3. Sami Bouajila

    Sami Bouajila

    Abdelkader

  4. Chafia Boudraa

    Chafia Boudraa

    La mère

  5. Bernard Blancan

    Bernard Blancan

    Faivre

  6. Sabrina Seyvecou

    Sabrina Seyvecou

    Helene

  7. Assaad Bouab

    Assaad Bouab

    Ali

  8. Thibault de Montalembert

    Thibault de Montalembert

    Morvan

  9. Samir Guesmi

    Samir Guesmi

    Otmani

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Mar 31, 2024

6/10

Set against the increasing demands for Algerian independence at home, three brothers are living in 1950s France. "Saïd" (Jamel Debbouze) is making a decent living running a nightclub but his siblings are much less settled. "Abdelkader" (Sami Bouajila) is a member of a proscribed organisation using terrorist tactics to free their homeland, and he is determined to recruit former soldier "Messaoud" (Roschdy Zem) and "Saïd" to the cause. The latter isn't really interested, but with the police closing in on the family and his nightclub shut down, he now has some tough decisions to make. There's something of the terrorist being another man's freedom fighter adage to this story and it's essentially asking the question of an audience. What wouldn't we do for freedom? The brothers have fled Algeria to escape the purported brutality of their oppressive colonialists, but now in France they are visiting a similar threatening behaviour on innocents there. Two wrongs make a right? Were the police there to protect or to impose? All questions asked but sadly not really very well addressed. The acting is weak, the characters seriously undercooked and the writing (historically based or not) struggles to sell us these three men one way or the other. This had a chance to enhance the standard documentary look of a depiction of the justice and causes of revolution but instead it rather leaves it to us, and any knowledge of events we may have, to reach our own conclusions. Disappointing, I'd say.

Media

  • Outside the Law poster
  • Outside the Law poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
French
Budget
$30,000,000.00
Revenue
$3,470,487.00
Keywords
uniformpolice brutalitypimpstranglerevengeblood bath