Far from Men

Far from Men (French: Loin des hommes) is a 2014 French drama film directed by David Oelhoffen. Set in French Colonial Algeria, the narrative follows Daru, a reclusive, pacifist, Algerian-born French teacher of Spanish descent (Viggo Mortensen) tasked with delivering Mohammad, a docile Algerian murder suspect (Reda Kateb), into the hands of French authorities as the Algerian War of Independence ignites.

Far from Men
Film poster
Directed byDavid Oelhoffen
Produced byMarc Du Pontavice
Matthew Gledhill
Screenplay byDavid Oelhoffen
Based onThe Guest
by Albert Camus
StarringViggo Mortensen
Reda Kateb
Music byNick Cave
Warren Ellis
CinematographyGuillaume Deffontaines
Edited byJuliette Welfling
Distributed byPathé
Release date
  • 31 August 2014 (2014-08-31) (Venice)
  • 14 January 2015 (2015-01-14) (France)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
Arabic
Spanish
Budget$5.4 million
Box office$835,031[1]

Mortensen (who also co-produced the film[2]) says that, as he was making the film, he thought about "European versus native populations in America, but also about Gaza" and "the artificial country called Iraq that was created by Europeans and is now falling apart.[3] The film is based on "The Guest", a short story by Albert Camus from his Exile and the Kingdom collection.

Far from Men was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 71st Venice International Film Festival.[4][5] It was screened in the Special Presentations section of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.[6]

Cast
  • Viggo Mortensen as Daru
  • Reda Kateb as Mohamed
  • Djemel Barek as Slimane
  • Vincent Martin as Balducci
  • Nicolas Giraud as Lieutenant Le Tallec
  • Jean-Jerome Esposito as Francis
  • Hatim Sadiki as Abdelkader
  • Yann Goven as Rene
  • Antoine Régent as Claude

Critical reception

The movie was well received by the critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 79% of 24 critics gave the film a positive review, for an average rating of 6.8/10.[7] Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a "generally favorable" average score of 74, based on 13 reviews.[8]

According to Manohla Dargis of The New York Times, "although Camus sets the movie's initial course, Oelhoffen resolutely steers it home with political context, historical hindsight, an unambiguous moral imperative and a pair of well-matched performances.[9]

Accolades
Award / Film Festival Category Recipients and nominees Result
71st Venice International Film Festival[10] SIGNIS Award Far from Men Won
Arca CinemaGiovani Award for Best Film of Venezia 71 Far from Men Won
Interfilm Award for Promoting Interreligious Dialogue Far from Men Won

References
  1. JP. "Loin des hommes (Far from Men) (2015)- JPBox-Office". www.jpbox-office.com. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  2. "Far from Men Cast and Crew". Internet Movie Database (imdb). Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  3. "Far From Men Review by Stephanie Bunbury", Sydney Morning Herald, retrieved 8 August 2017
  4. "International competition of feature films". Venice. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  5. "Venice Film Festival Lineup Announced". Deadline. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  6. "Toronto Film Festival Lineup". Variety. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  7. "Far from Men". Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  8. "Far From Men". Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  9. "Review: In 'Far From Men,' a Teacher Caught in the Crossfire by Manohla Dargis", New York Times, retrieved 8 August 2017
  10. "Collateral Awards of the 71st Venice Film Festival". La Biennale di Venezia. Archived from the original on 16 October 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
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