3.5 stars (out of 5)
The remarkable and multilingual Viggo Mortensen stars in (and co-produced) this David Oelhoffen-directed filming of an Albert Camus novel (The Guest/L’Hote), and he’s the main reason to catch it, as he delivers an understated performance of subtle power without ever beating you over the head with it.
In a remote Algerian schoolhouse surrounded by forbidding, rocky mountains back in 1954 we meet Daru (Viggo), a former French army soldier turned teacher introduced taking geography class with the local children. Daru seems a simple, even retiring man, and yet when a lawman arrives with prisoner Mohamed (Reda Kateb, very fine) in tow, we gradually learn more and more about our protagonist, who he is and what he believes in.
Daru is tasked with taking Mohamed to the town of Tinguit to make him stand trial for the killing of his cousin, and while Daru initially refuses to become involved he’s, nevertheless, soon escorting Mohamed across the stark landscape, and treating him with respect and as a ‘guest’, not an animal. However, once they’re on their way through the politically troubled region, Daru and Mohamed are soon fleeing from rebel soldiers and opening up to each other in a movingly unforced fashion, with Oelhoffen’s script demonstrating how these two very different men are united by fear and a common humanity.
Beautifully photographed by Guillaume Deffontaines, this has a striking musical score by Nick Cave and Dirty Three’s Warren Ellis and yet it’s also notable for its silences, as we hear nothing but the wind blowing through the rocks and the hushed breathing of the characters – or sometimes even less. And while Kateb is very strong it’s Mortensen’s movie, as he speaks (and acts) in no less than three languages (French with a carefully modified Algerian accent, Arabic and Spanish), which is quite a feat given that so many people out there struggle with only one.
I Wake Up Screening 