CineVue by John Bleasdale
The film is heartfelt and sincere in its concern to understand conflict and the plight of good men when they're forced to make impossible choices.
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
Director
David Oelhoffen
Cast
Viggo Mortensen,
Reda Kateb,
Djemel Barek,
Vincent Martin,
Nicolas Giraud
Genre
Drama,
War
A French teacher in a small Algerian village during the Algerian War forms an unexpected bond with a dissident who is ordered to be turned in to the authorities.
CineVue by John Bleasdale
The film is heartfelt and sincere in its concern to understand conflict and the plight of good men when they're forced to make impossible choices.
Los Angeles Times by Michael Rechtshaffen
In the penetrating character study that is Far From Men, existentialism has never felt so intimate.
The A.V. Club
Nobody moseys like Viggo Mortensen. In "The Road," "Appaloosa," "Jauja," and the new French Western Far From Men, the erstwhile Aragorn masters the tricky art of being a figure in the landscape.
The Playlist by Jessica Kiang
It is simply a great, traditional Western: the language and cultural details may be different, but the sparse elegance and moral conundrums are familiar and as resonant as ever.
The A.V. Club by Adam Nayman
Nobody moseys like Viggo Mortensen. In "The Road," "Appaloosa," "Jauja," and the new French Western Far From Men, the erstwhile Aragorn masters the tricky art of being a figure in the landscape.
Variety by Peter Debruge
Despite his movie-star reputation and looks, Mortensen remains a remarkably humble screen presence, a trait that’s perfect for a part that demands considerable empathy from whoever’s playing it.
Time Out London by Cath Clarke
Far from Men is a character study — a two-hander expertly acted by Mortensen and Kateb (best known for the terrific French cop show Spiral).
New York Magazine (Vulture) by Bilge Ebiri
What makes it work is the solemn efficiency of director David Oelhoffen’s storytelling and the quiet intensity of the two leads.
Slant Magazine by Chuck Bowen
The film often suggests a less defiant cover of The Defiant Ones, yet it's a must-see for Viggo Mortensen's characteristically wonderful performance.
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
Camus sets the movie’s initial course, but Mr. Oelhoffen resolutely steers it home with political context, historical hindsight, an unambiguous moral imperative and a pair of well-matched performances; put another way, he makes the story his own.
The Dissolve by Mike D'Angelo
The new ending Oelhoffen has dreamed up is unsatisfying—Camus’ version was sharper, nastier, more credible—and the film never strays far from genre convention, but it’s refreshing to see a sincere paean to nobility, honor, and courage, especially one that periodically elevates the pulse with expertly mounted standoffs.
Village Voice by Nick Schager
Its plotting is often a tad too plodding, but with the charismatic Mortensen exuding understated internal crisis (in a French- and Arabic-speaking role), Oelhoffen's film proves a compelling portrait of individuals striving to cope with, and at least somewhat overcome, cultural dislocation.
The Hollywood Reporter by Boyd van Hoeij
Instead of complex personalities and dilemmas, we mostly get clichés.
Loading recommendations...
Loading recommendations...