Far From Men

Description

Far From Men is a potent neo-Western that sets notions of personal morality and cultural identity against the backdrop of Algeria’s War of Independence. Viggo Mortensen (adding French and Arabic to the notches on his linguistic belt) stars as Daru, an Algerian-born descendant of Spaniards who teaches a handful of village children in the country’s northwestern High Plateau region. As an outsider to both native Arabs and the conquering French, he occupies a shifting space in which he tries to avoid taking sides in the increasing tensions between colonizer and colonized. Daru’s hand is forced when he’s ordered to take an Arab farmer charged with murder to local authorities who will almost certainly execute the man. His ethics, however, insist on treating Mohamed as an equal rather than an inhuman “other,” so delivering him to death becomes a tough pill to swallow. As the two men find themselves pitted against rebels and soldiers from both sides of the conflict, both are faced with decisions that will change their lives. Shot in Morocco, with a stunning eye for barren landscapes and the insignificance of men amid the vastness of nature, and featuring a tense and eerie soundtrack by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, Far From Men is a terrific reminder of what big-screen cinema can achieve. —Rod Armstrong

Trailer

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Film Details