MovieChat Forums > Les hommes libres (2012) Discussion > a bit disappointing and confusing?

a bit disappointing and confusing?

posted 11 years ago by ib011f9545i
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I missed this at my local arthouse cinema (EDINBURGH FILMHOUSE)it was probably on only a couple of times.

Got the dvd ,it had a technical fault with loud noises on the soundtrack at 2 points but I was watching it with english subtitles so this was not such a big deal.
Anyway I am someone who loves war films,is obsessed wb world war 2 and French history.
The role of muslims in the French resistance is not a topic covered by any of the many books I have read about the French resistance.

So I was looking forward to seeing this film.
But in the end while I am glad I saw it (dvd cost me £10)I have to say that as a film it is a bit disappointing,the plot is not clear.
I don,t want a simplisitc story but it was not always clear what year things were meant to be happening.
For example I know that the jews in the film were middle eastern jews not european jews,which explains why the Germans arrested muslims not sure if they were actually jews.
The film implies that the muslim/North African resistance became the anti French colonialist movement,but some of them must have been more moderate or more pro French.

[–] PoppyTransfusion 11 years ago

I rented the dvd from Lovefilm and it had the same glitch with the noise at two points late in the film. Must have been a rotten batch for sale in the UK!

The film doesn't sign post the year but the events must have occurred soon after the Germans occupied France, hence the round-ups of Jewish people and others deemed undesirables.

Some of the scenes suggested that not everyone at the mosque agreed with Si Kaddour Ben Ghabrit's efforts for the resistance and/or hiding the Jews. So you could infer from that the muslims had differing political opinions.

The film implies that the muslim/North African resistance became the anti French colonialist movement

The French recruited north Africans to fight with them against the Germans claiming that the fight against Nazism would lead to freedom and this was taken on by many, especially the Algerians, to mean they would be free of French colonialism. This didn't happen of course but the seeds for the desire to be free of occupation, as France was under the Germans and Algeria under the French, were sewn by north African participation in WW2. Tahar Rahim's character was fictional and meant to represent the French-Algerians whose involvements in WW2 led to them to fight the French post-WW2.

Away with the manners of withered virgins