Exiles (2004)

I love this movie so much

Admirable film.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

In Tony Gatlif's distinctive film 'Exils', we meet a young French couple: he is ethnically French, she is Arab, but both had Algerian ancestors, and the movie follows them after they spontaneously decide to abandon Paris and investigate their roots. The couple are presented in the film as very sensual, and the music and images that surround (and define) them are shared also by the viewer. The film touches on some interesting ideas, notably the not always chosen trade-off between freedom and belonging, and ends with a remarkable extended sequence depicting an Arab ritual of personal abandonment that bears comparison to (and is in fact more disturbing than) anything from 'The Exorcist'. What it doesn't have is much of a conventional plot beyond the collage of sights and sounds; and the characters, though strongly-drawn, do not evolve dramatically over the course of the movie. It's still a striking piece of work; but fiction is being used here, rather than serving as an end in itself.

I saw EXILS in the Polish cinema recently as a part of the sequence "psycho vibrations" with a group of students. After the movie, we had a little chat together with the organizer of the meeting. Most of us agreed that the movie by Tony Gatlif is different than most of the films we see nowadays. Although EXILS is in no way outstanding, there are some aspects worth mentioning, the things that make it a must see for open minded viewers but, at the same time, it may be a huge moral spoiler.Music is, I think, the most important aspect that needs to be mentioned. The viewer is supplied with a wonderful musical experience throughout the whole movie, is provided with the experience of various sorts of music, from Techno through Flamenco, yet to the Algerian trance. As a result, you, in a sense, take part in the experience that the main characters, real music lovers, get through. You watch the movie and let yourself be drown into the perfect music. The most intense experience moment is when they dance in Algeria, the trance is becoming more and more intensified at every single second. It very much affects the audience.Besides, the movie quite accurately presents the reality of immigrants, the problems they have to cope with, and the culture clash. Although the emphasis is drawn to a couple, Naima (Lubna Azabal) and Zano (Romain Duris), the major topic of their plot is being on the way from France to Algieria in order to find origins. On their way, they meet various people, most of them are immigrants who left their homelands in the hope for a better life. They are like the violin masoned in the wall, as it is showed in a symbolic scene when Zano masons his violin. In this case, the film seems to be a voice for the ignored but this message is not so clearly noticeable.SPOILER: Stereotypically perhaps, due to the fact that EXILS is a French movie, there must be some nudity, which is a serious moral spoiler. But people who overdo with Puritan blame directed towards any sex scenes will not find much accusation in EXILS. There are very few moments that openly show naked Naima and Zano. Some are not appropriate and disturbing, like the first shot of the movie, but some are not that bad. For example, the scene when they are making love in the garden is fairly well made, it is not vulgar but totally filled with sexuality directing our attention to the pleasure of the couple. And, moreover, I found apples pretty symbolic in this scene.SPOILER: The movie, however, does not make much use of the locations and landscapes that the main characters visit. It is only said that they are in Spain but hardly anything is showed. There is only a landscape of Andalusian territories noticeable as Naima and Zano are traveling by train and a moment look at Paris, but that is it. Therefore, it is not true that you will have a chance to admire various places in this movie.SPOILER: And the content of the movie does not have much to offer. It is an attempt to show the life without any more profound sense, without any spirituality. The only "god" for the main characters is music. Consider how Zano replies to the question of a Muslim who is keen on their religion - "My religion is music". Therefore, EXILS does not show life as a moral value whatsoever. It appears to be nothing more than time spent on realizing loose habits, fulfilling sexual desires, and listening to music as the best relaxation. As a result, the life of main characters is not that much an individual freedom any longer but moves towards sheer anarchy.Nevertheless, the whole movie is worth seeing as a different look at values and at filming convention. Although it is not a memorable movie in general, some moments may remain in memory. We are all hidden in this world like the violin masoned in the wall. The gist is to find the sense of life and what the sense will be depends entirely on every individual. And a must for music lovers! 6/10!

I saw this film at the Chicago International Film Festival, and I must say that I enjoyed it. I was really skeptical because I had thought that all French movies were just stupid sex-filled movies. Sure, this film has its share of nudity, but it doesn't distract from the story. You know nothing about these characters once the film starts except that they like to eat and drink naked in an apartment. For the next 1.5 hours you get to know little snippets from the past of their lives and hope to know more about what they want and what they need. On the path to Algeria, they evolve more as friends and as people to the audience, and not just as techno-music-blaring punks. By the climax of the film, the true characters come out of their young shells. They deal with their past in emotional ways (I won't spoil it) and leave the audience with a sense of accomplishment as the credits roll.I do have complaints that stem from the way it was presented. First of all, the subtitles in the version I saw were inconsistent, meaning that sometimes people would speak and I would see no subtitles. Otherwise, this is a great movie that I highly recommend.movie 9.7/10 presentation 8.7/10

As I watched this movie, I became more and more curious, because of the director's obvious love for music. In fact, not only did he direct the movie, he also created much of the music that added up to a stunning soundtrack. But when I get back to my computer, I see that I have in fact already seen a movie by him - Swing - in which wee Max develops an understanding of gypsy culture and guitar playing. He is also famous in certain quarters for Latcho Drom, a movie I have never seen.Exiles has, at its heart, a road movie. Zano is an Algerian in Paris, completely cut off from his roots - the film opens with him staring out of his flat window over the rooftops, no doubt imagining a different life, because he turns to his girlfriend, Naima, and says "lets go to Algeria". As you do. Naima is harder to work out - for the most part, she seems pretty banal, trivial even, interested solely in her own immediate pleasures. So, when she's in a bar one night, she thinks nothing of slinking off with another man just because he gives her the eye. But there might be reasons - they're not well explored, but it is suggested that she is even more rootless than Zano, with absolutely no expectations. Living for the immediate moment makes sense in that situation. I've said that she's his girlfriend, but I may have over-stated it: we see nothing at all of their prior relationship and only learn that they have a shared history of making porn flicks. Zano doesn't know her well enough to have been told her birthday. It may even be that by the end, she does find a connection within herself, is grounded. If she is, it is music which does it for her.So, anyway, they are ostensibly walking to Algeria, but we see very little of them actually walking - trains seem to be the preferred mode. They jump a train to near Seville, not Seville itself because the ticket collector is on his way to check their non-existent tickets. They spend some time picking fruit around Seville, and having sex among the (I think) nectarine trees - gorgeous images in this part in particular, with the lush green leaves, the brilliantly red-skinned fruit and two beautiful people playing with each other. Seville, it turns out, is something of a staging post - they meet several Algerians working the fruit fields making their way to Paris because, there, you can get fake work papers. So, there's a nice point being made about our heroes doing the reverse, going to Algeria from Paris for their specific dream of getting in touch with their background. As they get closer to Algeria, they meet more and more refugees flowing the other way.Their trip is otherwise fairly straight-forward, apart from stealing a ride in a van onto a ferry that's not going to Algeria at all, with a consequent need to take a long ride through near desert in a ramshackle bus that breaks down, after which they're smuggled across the border. The two things that stand out throughout their journey are the scenery and the music - in all the pubs in Seville, we see these impromptu gatherings of musicians just jamming. The back seat of the bus has three or four musicians to provide a live sound track for the trip.When they don't have live music, Zano and Naima are both plugged into their respective disc-mans - giving Gatlif and his musical collaborator, Delphine Mantoulet, a chance to show off their music. I think this was deliberate - but as they approach their destination, there is less and less reliance on this recorded music and local live music predominates. This culminates in the final main scene - there's a gathering of musicians - a handful of percussionists with little bongo type drums held on their shoulders, a fellow with something not much bigger than a ukulele but with a much deeper sound, and various female voices, ululating rather than singing. Their tempos starts slow and reaches the orgasmic. Naimo is more and more feral in her dancing - she completely lets go and is controlled by the music. I really do think that this is showing her developing a connection with her roots: after all, it follows a scene in which she's told that her vacancy is down to being entirely groundless.