Film Reviews

Exiles

• Rating:
• Director: Tony Gatlif
• Starring: Lubna Azabal
• Details: France, 94mins, 18s.

Zano (Duris), a music-loving Frenchman of Muslim descent, longs for his roots and one morning suggests to his new lover Naima (Azabal), a fly-by-night kooky girl, that they leave Paris and walk the long journey to their ancestral homeland of Algeria. Crossing Spain during the course of their journey, the lovers encounter all sorts of people and problems; meanwhile, Naima and Zano's explicit sexual relationship grows to fever pitch. On arrival in Algiers, Zano begins the search for his family home.
This road movie will compare less favourably to last year's Le Grand Voyage, which saw two French Muslims make the great trek to Mecca. Where as Le Grand Voyage had the father-son relationship and years of feelings swelling up between the two protagonists, Exiles presents two barely acquainted lovers getting to know each other on the road. This works in one sense, as we become familiar with them and learn with them as they progress, but it fails in another way as it's hard to empathise with a relationship that either person can walk away from without losing too much. Director Gatlif presents their world with an almost post-apocalyptic feeling as the couple journey through dilapidated cities. Exiles is a charming if undemanding film, but it lacks a little oomph.

Review by Gavin Burke