User Reviews

Ismaël Ferroukhi both wrote (with Alain-Michel Blanc) and directed this emotionally charged story based on fact and peppered with real and fictitious characters to drive home the point of the film - that differences among peoples become erased in response to a common enemy. This is a powerful little film made more radiant because of the brilliant cast.

In German occupied Paris in WW II there is a segment of Algerian and Moroccan immigrants who survive on the fringes largely due to people like the unemployed Younes (the handsome and gifted French actor of Algerian origin Tahir Rahim) who runs a black market selling cigarettes, tea, coffee and food to his fellow Algerians - until he is caught by the police. Instead to going to prison he is set up to spy on the Paris Mosque, thought by the police to be center for the Mosque authorities, including its rector Ben Ghabrit (Michael Lonsdale) of aiding Muslim Resistance agents and helping North African Jews by giving them false certificates. At the Mosque, Younes meets the Algerian singer Salim Halali (Mahmud Shalaby), and is moved by Salim's beautiful voice and strong personality. When Younes discovers that Salim is Jewish, he stops collaborating with the police and gradually transforms from a politically ignorant immigrant black marketeer into a fully-fledged freedom fighter. It is this friendship between Younes and Salim that shapes the changes in Younes character, allowing him to move form a non-political opportunist to a committed freedom fighter.

There are many side stories that occur - the influence of the Gestapo, the presence of the mysterious Leila (the profoundly gifted and beautiful Lubna Azabal), Vichy collaborators, Muslims, Jews, Christians, resistance fighters, communists, spies, snitches, fugitives, traitors, criminals, children and innocents - with the theme of discovered camaraderie emerging slowly but surely. This is an inspired film that opens windows to parts of WW II history little known to the general public, and at films end the history of the post war activities of those character who are real is revealed, with 'Younes' being described as the general representative of all the Algerian and Jewish immigrants. The score is filled with the singing of Salim/Mahmud Shalaby that adds a definite feeling of authenticity to the film. In French and Arabic with English subtitles.

Grady Harp

"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.

FREE MEN was just screened to a sold-out crowd at the Rendez-vous with French Cinema in New York. It was a wonderfully acted, well told fictional film of Arabs helping resistance fighters (including North African Jews) during the German occupation of France during WW2.

Dramatic and suspenseful, pitting collaborators versus resistance fighters, gestapo officials versus the authorities at a mosque.

Given the ethnic tensions in Paris today, this film offers an alternate vision of unity in the face of oppression.

Definitely worth seeing on the festival circuit or in art house release.

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.

Another film inspired by the Nazi invasion in France. This one shows a more normal side of life, where the danger and the dread is not taken seriously until something happens. Lots of close calls to keep the tension and enough normalcy to imagine how it could be tolerated.

"Free Men (les hommes libres) a masterpiece. It's a historical fiction film exploring Muslim-Jewish solidarity through the (true) story of the Shaykh of the Grand Mosque in Paris during Nazi occupied France who issued certificates for Jewish families (stating that they are Muslim) for their owns safety (the same mosque also gave 1500 Jews refuge in their basement).

Beyond it's potent themes though, it's a film that underlines the ordinariness of heroism with such subtlety & deftness. There are moments of powerful stillness that contrast with the violent reign of the Nazi's in France. I found myself pausing to reflect at some of the poetry in both the films dialogue and moments of brevity.

It's a remarkable work of art and one of the best films i've ever seen. I would ignore the critics in major publications giving this middling reviews. It reflects a wider problem in the reviews of films where the majority are white men (Analysis of reviews of top releases found that only 22.2% were written by women, with 82% of critics white). It's therefore unsurprising that, many white critics were not blown away by a film that shows a mosque as a hub of solidarity and where no white saviour is present.

Tahar Rahim plays Younes, a young Algerian in Paris during the Nazi occupation, planning to return to Algeria after he gets rich on the black market. Instead, he ends up joining the Resistance and helping a few Jews escape through the Paris mosque.

Rahim is a gifted actor. I first saw him in A Prophet, a so-so prison movie in which he gave a fantastic performance. Free Men has a great performance by Michael Lonsdale as the head of the mosque, and maybe that's why Rahim seems less impressive in this movie than he was in A Prophet. A Prophet made me an instant fan, but if I'd seen Free Men first I don't think that would have happened; Rahim is good in it, but not fantastic.

Another problem I have with Free Men is that the central relationship is between Younes and a young Jewish singer of North African music named Salim who has survived because the mosque gave him false ID as a Moslem. The friendship between Younes and Salim is supposed to be inspiring (I think), but it just annoyed the hell out of me.

First, the actor who plays Salim is an Arab, not a Jew, and he looks like an Arab, not a Jew. Trying to see the character as a Jew is practically impossible, but his Jewishness is key to the movie. If their friendship is supposed to exemplify some sort of grand utopian harmony between Arabs and Jews, it fails.

Second, Salim is supposed to be the world's greatest singer of North African music, but to me it was nearly unbearable, just a bunch of ugly, whiny, screechy, nasal noise. I don't mean to offend North Africans, but their music doesn't sound like music to me (Lots of American music is even worse, though, including punk, heavy metal and rap).

Plus, the guy playing Salim is so ugly that I couldn't look at him for more than a few seconds at a time; he has weird eyes that reminded me of the Emperor's yellow eyes in The Empire Strikes Back (or maybe it was Return of the Jedi), only Salim's are a strange unnatural blue color. Better casting of that role might have helped this movie a lot.

So I don't recommend Free Men. The only things I enjoyed were Lonsdale's performance and seeing a sort of street-level view of what Paris may have been like under the Nazis, which I don't think I'd ever seen before.