Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Outside the Law Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 26, 2011

Selected to represent Algeria in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 83rd Academy Awards, Rachid Bouchareb's "Hors-la-loi" a.k.a "Outside the Law" (2010) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer, making of featurette, and video interview with director Rachid Bouchareb. In French and Arabic, with imposed English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Was it worth it?

A small village somewhere in Algeria, 1925. An old man, his wife and three sons are told that they have three days to pack and leave their house - unless they manage to come up with a document proving that their home and land were legally purchased.

Twenty years later. The three brothers have parted ways - Messaoud (Roschdy Zem, Le petit lieutenant, Go Fast) has joined the French army and gone to Indochina; Abdelkader (Sami Bouajila, Nid de guêpes, Full Treatment) is in a French prison; while Said (Jamel Debbouze, Amelie, Angel-A), his father and seriously ill mother have moved to a small town in rural Algeria. During a spontaneous uprising, the French army kills most of the men in the town, including Said’s father.

Convinced that there is no future for him in his home country, Said decides to go to France. He begs his mother to follow him, and she agrees, after he convinces her that Messaoud and Abdelkader will find a way to join them.

Said and his mother reach France and end up in an immigrant camp in Nanterre, on the outskirts of Paris. The men and women there are from various French colonies, but the majority of them are from Algeria. A few have found work in a new Renault plant, but most are unemployed.

Determined to make enough so that he could rent a decent place to live with his mother, Said approaches a shady businessman who allows him to run a small corner for him on Place Pigalle. Said becomes a pimp and begins making more in a day than what most Algerians working in the Renault plant would make in a month.

Meanwhile, Messaoud returns from Indochine and joins Said and his mother in the camp. Soon after, Abdelkader is also released from prison. Eventually, Messaoud and Abdelkader decide to organize the Algerian immigrants and have them assist the FLN, while Said opens up a night club.

Hors-la-loi a.k.a Outside the Law, the sequel to Rachid Bouchareb's fabulous Indigenes a.k.a Days of Glory, is again a controversial film. This time around the focus of attention is on FLN’s activities in France, prior to the signing of the Evian Accords, and the open confrontation between Algerian "freedom fighters" and the French secret service across France.

Unlike Gillo Pontecorvo’s legendary The Battle of Algiers, however, Outside the Law does not explore the ideas and philosophy that united Algerians in their fight for independence; rather it deals with the various strategies FLN members employed to fight the French on French soil.

Parts of Outside the Law are also firmly grounded into "classic crime film" territory. Messaoud and Abdelkader’s raids, for instance, are routinely excused as necessary in their struggle to unite their fellow countrymen, but often times they remind about the actions of Noodles and his boys in Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America.

What keeps the film from turning into a predictable and annoying piece of propaganda, told as an epic crime story, is Bouchareb’s refusal to treat the three brothers and the rest of the FLN members as revolutionary heroes. They are all men with disturbingly flexible moral standards who eventually become involved in a dirty war that cannot be won. (To this very day, Algeria and France continue to be wracked by terrorist attacks carried out by "freedom fighters").

Note: In 2010, Outside the Law was nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival. The film was also selected to represent Algeria in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 83rd Academy Awards

Outside the Law Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.34:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Rachid Bouchareb's Outside the Law arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment.

Clarity and contrast levels tend to fluctuate as the action moves from Algeria to France, and then from the camp in Nanterre to the streets of Paris. Detail, however, is consistently pleasing, even during the nighttime terrorist attacks. The color-scheme also evolves - early on soft and warm yellows and browns are the prominent colors, while during the second half of the film, after the brothers reunite in Paris, grays and light greens take over; the blacks are never lush and well saturated. During selected scenes light edge-enhancement tries to creep in, but it never becomes an issue of concern. There are, however, various small artifacts that pop up early into the film (for example, immediately after the uprising in the prologue - see screencapture # 6). Occasionally, some ringing is also noticeable. Nevertheless, the high-definition transfer has a fairly pleasing look, and detail is indeed very convincing. For the record, there are no serious stability issues to report in this review. (Note: Currently I only have a screener, not a finished market version of this Blu-ray release. My screener is Region-Free).

Outside the Law Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Bu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and French LPCM 2.0 (with portions of Arabic). For the record, Optimum Home Entertainment have provided imposed English subtitles for the main feature (they cannot be turned off). The subtitles appear inside the image frame.

There are plenty of actions scenes in the film where the bass is fairly intense and the rear channels intelligently used, but do not expect the French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track to test the muscles of your audio system. All things considered, you are more likely to be impressed with its wide range of nuanced dynamics rather than with its aggressiveness. The dialog is crisp, clean, stable, and easy to follow. The English translation is of exceptionally high quality.

Outside the Law Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: The supplemental feature included on this Blu-ray disc is encoded in PAL. Therefore, you must have a Region-Free player capable of converting PAL to NTSC in order to view it in North America.

• Trailer - the original theatrical trailer for Outside the Law. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (2 min, PAL).

• Making of - in this informative featurette, director Rachid Bouchareb discusses how Outside of the Law came to exist. The featurette also contains footage from the various sets (quite elaborate) used during the shooting of the film. Actor Jamel Debbouze and Roschdy Zem, among others, also comment on the film and its message. In French, with optional English subtitles. (27 min, PAL).

• Interview - in this video interview, director Rachid Bouchareb explains what he wanted to accomplish with Outside the Law. In French, with optional English subtitles. (12 min, PAL).

Outside the Law Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It feels like Outside the Law wants to be too many things at once - a convincing political film, a crime film, and perhaps a good family saga. As a result, it is often too chaotic, lacking the type of depth one would rightfully expect after glancing through its impressive cast list. Rachid Bouchareb's Days of Glory was a far better film. RENT IT.