Far From Men

Far from Men

Far From Men is based loosely on ‘The Guest’, a short story by Albert Camus. Essentially the film is a road trip. Two men, who are strangers to one another – one Arab and one French (but of Spanish descent) – set off on a journey from a small village to a larger, provincial town. The nation they are in is in the middle of a colonial civil war. The men must make their journey at the behest of the colonial government, and it’s a journey that should only take them a couple of days. But their extended trek involves multiple unplanned detours and along the way there are adventures, and growth, the big questions are asked, courage is required from both men, difficult decisions and choices are made and much is not as it seems.

The film contains some intense violence but is not consumed by violence and ‘action’. Gentle, wry humour peppers the film as the two men find their way to one another. The film questions our ideas about the oppressor and the oppressed and how we define our nationality or culture. Visually FFM is stunning. We get almost four seasons of the Atlas mountains, and there are lots of wide, sweeping shots of the desert and mountains throughout the film.

So what is FFM about? It’s a film about, literally, forks in the road and the power of choice. It’s a film about life change and how we resist or consent or succumb to change. It’s a film about integrity and truth and free will. It’s a film that challenges the notions of both the woke left and paint by numbers conservatives who both want an enemy to hate. FFH is also a film that acknowledges the Creator and our reliance on him.

© The Grumpy Old Dilettante, 2021