To me, this movie is perfection.

Better Late Then Never

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

FREE MEN is an attempt to add a multi-cultural element to the story of the French Resistance, by focusing on its North African component and (not entirely believably) suggesting it was a precursor to the later resistance struggle by Arabs against the French for Algerian independence. The plot is a classic as a self-interested Arab petty crook in Paris is caught by Vichy cops and forced to infiltrate the Resistance only to discover that their cause is worth fighting for. This allows for lots of cameos by historical figures like Salim Halali (an Arab Jewish singer and homosexual) and Si Kaddour Benghabrit (who ran the Paris mosque and helped Jews escape the Holocaust). Unfortunately the film lets itself down by being so one note; it identifies the Gestapo with the immigration police, ignores the use of North African bounty hunters by the Germans to catch Jews in return for cash, and features only one Arab who is anti-semitic and anti-homosexual...and who is (spoilers) a traitor anyway. Restoring a forgotten history is laudable, but ignoring its negative aspects is not. The film itself is cleanly shot and full of good actors, even if the small budget means that not much happens (which is probably quite realistic) and the script doesn't provide much for the actors to work with.

"Les hommes libres" may not be outstanding in terms of cinematic art. This is definitely not an avant-garde film. It is true that the director, Ismaël Ferroukhi (who previously gave us the sensitive "Le Grand Voyage"), is content to illustrate the screenplay he has written. That is the reason why most French film critics (who dislike a film with a beginning, a middle and an end but without any particular effects) looked down on this yet interesting, informative and thought-provoking piece of filming. So just disregard what they say and watch "Les hommes libres". You will not be let down.The story (written by Ferroukhi and Alain-Michel Blanc), set in occupied France between1942 and 1944, revolves around a character named Younes, an Algerian immigrant who surprisingly evolves from petty black marketeer to informer for the French collaborationist police to Resistance fighter. He is one of those interesting characters who are buffeted by circumstances and end up heroes without them suspecting it in the slightest. First only interested in getting money to survive, Younes will be forced by the French police to spy on the rector of the Paris mosque, of whom the Nazis have every reason to think he helps Jews. This will in fact be his road to Damascus, for instead of enjoying working for the forces of evil (like "Lacombe Lucien" did in Louis Malle's masterpiece), he finds out that the occupiers and their sycophants are up to no good. And although reluctant to take action at first, he is finally persuaded to fight for the French Resistance.Even more interesting, because more ambiguous, is the relationship Younes develops with Salim (a singer of Algerian origin, both Jewish and gay) who has taken shelter at the Mosque. Salim is at once a gifted singer and an engaging and charming human being, a tortured creature and a sometimes unreliable friend. Younes, despite his lack of education, has already understood that the Nazis are evil but, through Salim, he becomes aware of something even more essential : a human being's rights must be defended even if this person is imperfect.Well made on the whole (one defect being an occasional lack of rhythm), posing genuine moral problems, very well acted by Tahar Rahim (whose "shy" style of acting becomes his naive character to perfection) and Mahmud Shalaby, already excellent in "Une bouteille à la mer" (a young actor who manages to combine natural charm, depth and intensity as Salim), "Les hommes libres" has the great merit to unveil the heroic role played during World War II by the Paris Mosque and its rector Si Kaddour (jauntily embodied by another great man, actor Michael Lonsdale). I had personally never heard of this major historical figure and I do not think I am the only one. So, let us thank Ismaël Ferroukhi for this revelation rather than criticize him for not being an avant- garde artist.

The setting is Paris during the Nazi Occupation of World War 2. Tahar Rahim, after a powerful performance in "The Prophet", stars here as a young Algerian émigré making his living selling cigarettes and sundries on the black market. Rahim reminds me of a young Richard Gere and in my opinion has the potential to be a powerhouse in film.During a police raid, he is arrested but offered his freedom if he'll act as an informant at the local mosque. He agrees but is not very good at it and soon realizes his allegiance is more with the Muslim community than it is with the Vichy government.When a young woman, played by Lubna Azabel, who is being hidden at the mosque, and to whom Rahim is attracted, is arrested by the police and executed Rahim begins to work for the Resistance Movement, along with his cousin.As he soon learns, the director of the mosque, played by the wonderful actor Michael Lonsdale, is helping North African Jews, and others, obtain fake identities and sheltering them from the Nazis. This part of history I was not aware of and it was quite interesting to me.Rahim befriends an enormously talented local singer, played by Mahmoud Shalaby, and tries to protect him when the Nazis find out he is Jewish. The singing is the film is quite mesmerizing and adds to the enjoyment considerably.When Rahim's Resistance cell is uncovered he must, along with his compatriots, battle for his survival.In summary, I found this film to be well paced and quite engrossing, with enjoyable music and offers a lesson in history.

Among the Righteous Among Nations at Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial of Ha Shoah or Holocaust, the names of Arabs who saved Jews are absent. Even Morocco's Mohammed V, who, defying Vichy authorities, put his 650,000 Jewish subjects under the Sherifian throne's protection and saved them not only from wearing the dreaded Yellow Star but as a community, has no place among the Righteous. In his own way, Ismaël Ferrouki is trying to correct this historical omission.The Franco-Moroccan film maker's Les Hommes Libres or Free Men opened quietly at New York's Quad Cinema on Friday March 16. The film is set in Paris at a time of a great moral dilemma when Jews were being rounded up by the French police for extermination camps. And in this dark hour of French indifference to these arrested, the rector of la Mosque de Paris Si Kaddour Ben Ghabrit, subtly played by Michel Lansdale, provided certificates to mainly, but not exclusively, to North African Jews, which attested that they were Muslims. Bengharit plays a cat-and-mouse game with the Nazi authorities and the collaborationist Pétain representatives to give aid and comfort to Jews, whom, as he says, "are one of us."The presence of North African Jews and Muslims in France has much to do with French colonialism. For, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia were under France's control; the need for workers attracted North Africans to metropolitan France; money earned there would be sent back to support families.Ferrouki's conceit has become controversial; his theme is based on oral history, anecdotes and some written testimony. Algerian-born Jewish historian Benjamin Stora has acted as an adviser on Free Men. Owing to the current climate of fear created since 9/11 and growing criticism of Israel, the very idea of a picture about Muslim saving Jews might seem aberrant if not perverse. And yet, the wife of Holocaust survivor and Peace-prize Nobelist Élie Wiesel, herself saved by Tunisian Muslims has unsuccessfully appealed to have her benefactor added to the list of the Righteous. The film's moral authority centers around friendship among Ben Ghabrit, Younis , a black marketer, admirably portrayed by Tahir Rahm, and the Algerian Jewish singer Salim Halali (Mahmoud Shalaby, an Israeli Arab) who has the voice of an angel.Halali sings in Arabic. His songs' lyrics help move the film's narrative; they set the mood of war's terrors and dangers even though they are at heart love songs. To Americans, Jews singing in Arabic may seem an anomaly. Nonetheless, the Sephardim in North Africa spoke Arabic. Unfamiliar to Americans as well are the names, say, of the Algerian Enrico Macias, the blind Reinette l'Oranaise and the Moroccan cantor Sami El Maghribi, who sang in Arabic.Running through Free Men is the thread of resistance against Fascism and colonialism among a handful of French and Algerians. Some knowledge of French and North African history would be helpful here: the name of Messali El Hadj, considered the father of Algeria's nationalist movement, is central to Franco-Algerian resistance in fighting for democracy. El Hadj's manifesto considered Jew and Muslim equal and part and parcel of the Algerian community. His unfulfilled hope was that at war's end France would accord Algerians full and equal rights.Younes slowly comes around to joining the resistance. He sees in Salim, not a Jew, but an Algerian soul mate, a mirror of his own identity. Ben Ghabrit provides Salim the means of survival in order to outwit the French police after his arrest.The film's story is told with simplicity and convincing honesty. An old Moroccan palace was transformed into the Paris Mosque.Les Hommes Libres should be seen if only to see a slice of North African Jewish and Muslim fraternity. Perhaps, it is hoped, it may spur the American film goer to read about North African history.