If you have the ability to get a story from great images and great music, you might adore this movie as much as I do. If you like traveling, this is a journey into the Arabian world, and also towards the inner soul.The plot and story are not on the surface, but there's enough, if you are able to take it... Maybe it helps if you're not too much part of the individualistic, and sometimes very empty and flat western society these French Algerians are getting away form, to find their roots... An auditive and visual pleasure, a sexy and messed up trip to who they are, and were they wanna be... And it's a great pleasure to get there with them!

A young couple, Zano (boy) and Naima (girl), of Algerian origin return to Algeria to get a sense of their ancestry and family history. It's an incompletely told story, as bumpy and random as the trip it describes. I can't say whether that was deliberate.SPOILERS FROM HERE ON: From the lingering opening shot of Zano's thoracic back region, accompanied by a headbanging, shouted, angst-ridden soundtrack vocalised by someone I could only imagine had not washed in a month and was recording this while angrily waving a picket sign in front of a government office, I found it full of forced significance/symbolism and gratuitous, pretentious art shots, as well as containing clichéd lines, soap-operatic plot twists, and overused, unconvincing acting devices reminiscent of "Closer". It's the sort of movie ... er ... FILM you're supposed to go out afterwards and discuss seriously over cappuccinos, using sophisticated words like "persiflage", "paradigm", and "transcendent", so everyone knows what a deep thinker you are.For starters, I found it difficult to like either one of the couple. I'm not even sure the viewer is intended to like them. I think Zano was meant to be brooding and profound and Naima wildly sensual; however, to me they came off as sulky and slutty/borderline insane, respectively, and both far too self-absorbed to care about.Zano's beard was neatly trimmed throughout their rough, dirty, and water-deprived adventure, and their wardrobe and bedding were far more voluminous than the single bag he had slung over his back could ever realistically hold, not to mention that their clothes were always clean and pressed. Naima got away with far more than she really would, wardrobewise, in a country where women are expected to be covered from head to toe.I couldn't help but be amazed at the privacy they enjoyed for their tryst in the orchard. Who knew that orchards, in the middle of a working day during picking season under the watchful eyes of a critical supervisor, were so private? Earn $$ while you date, away from prying eyes; free food included. I'll be washing my fruit more carefully from now on.The cinematography is amazing, although its subject matter is often depressingly squalid.Barring the opening number, the soundtrack was mostly excellent if you like raw World/fusion music (I do) and both story and characters became more compelling and likable toward the end, after they arrive in Algeria.The climax scene, depending on your taste, either goes on for far too long or represents a truly interesting, in-depth example of Zar, a North African version of exorcising personal demons via a major, rhythmic, music-assisted, full-body, trance-inducing tantrum. I didn't time it personally, but read somewhere that it goes on for some 10 minutes and that sounds about right. I found the community support for the dancers incredibly moving and just sat there thinking "I could use me some of that." Actually, I think a lot of people could. This scene, along with Zano's earlier visit to his parents' former home and the reception he encountered there, were the only scenes in Exils that truly touched me.It struck me that Naima's nuttiness through most of the film seemed to be an unconscious attempt to enact a Zar ceremony. She certainly seemed a lot saner, cleaner somehow, after the Zar, as did Zano.I think Zar is maybe what raves try to be.

Exils (2004) (Exiles) was written, produced, and directed by Tony Gatlif. I saw this film at the 2005 Cinefranco Film Festival in Toronto. (www.cinefranco.com) This movie is a odyssey of sorts. Both Zano, played by Romain Duris, and Naima (Lubna Azabal) live in France, but have ties that draw them back to Algeria. The film follows their slow but determined trip southward.Since they are traveling without funds--or even a map--they naturally need help from others along the way. These interactions with the people they meet on the road are fascinating. The two characters are not exactly role models for today's youth, but you have to admire their tenacity and their unwillingness to turn back.Not a masterpiece, but an interesting movie that's worth seeking out.

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.