RACHID BOUCHAREB attracts controversy. Four years ago, the director's Days of Glory, focusing on the north African soldiers who fought for France in the second World War, reminded the establishment how badly it had treated combatants from the former colonies, wriets DONALD CLARKE
This May, Bouchareb unveiled his follow-up, Outside the Law, to largely appreciative audiences at the Cannes Film Festival. Following the armed struggle for Algerian independence, the film drew protests from flag-waving patriots who accused director and festival of being anti-French. In truth, the absurdly heavy police presence – machine guns all along La Croisette – was more frightening than the huddle of nutters with banners.
“My mum was in Cannes with a large part of my family,” he says. “There were so many cops that they had to put her in a special van. She was laughing about it at the time: ‘With all these cops, I’ve never felt so safe in my life.’”
In between those two epics, Bouchareb, raised near Paris to Algerian parents, made a smaller film that promised to scare up just as much controversy. London Riverfollows the tense relationship between two very different people who suspect they may have lost children in the suicide attacks that hit London on July 7th, 2005. Brenda Blethyn plays a conservative farmer from the Channel Islands. The late Sotigui Kouyaté is moving as an African forester adrift in very unfamiliar circumstances. It transpires that, unknown to either parent, Blethyn's daughter was seeing Kouyaté's son.
As it happened, despite the sensitivity of the material, there have been no significant objections to the film from activists or the bereaved.
“I was really struck by the way that, in London, people openly speak and debate about Islam,” Rachid ruminates. “Whereas in France that’s a debate that’s suppressed. It’s not discussed on the streets. Here in London, people seem eager to talk about the role of Muslims in society.”
This is an interesting comment. The UK has had its fair share of race-relations catastrophes, but that country does (or did – more anon) seem somewhat more open to cultural diversity than its neighbour across the Channel.
“When I came to London, I was really struck by how you could walk around Hyde Park and see women fully dressed up in the hijab and it didn’t create any unease,” he says. “I found that to be very noticeable coming from Paris. Society felt more open and tolerant than at home.”
Hmm? How quickly things can change. Our conversation took place six weeks ago. At that point – back in early June – such a distinction made a great deal of sense. The French had been muttering about banning the Muslim veil for years. Meanwhile, in the UK, such extreme views had been the preserve of Blimpish extremists in the United Kingdom Independence Party. In the past few weeks, however, various Tory back-benchers, supported by the mid-market tabloids, have begun pushing furiously for a UK ban on the hijab and the burka.
Still, it is true to say that people from Muslim backgrounds have greater visibility in Britain than they do in France.
“Britain was a country that wasn’t surprised by Muslims,” he says. “It has Pakistan as a colony, with many millions of Muslims. It’s really weird. Obviously France had colonies, but it’s like they only just found out about them. What a surprise. We have these colonies.”
Bouchareb, an amiable man with a sense of humour that tends towards the fatalistic, was born on the outskirts of Paris in 1953. As a young fellow, he worked as an assistant director for the state television service. Then, in the 1980s, he made a concerted effort to propel himself into the movie business. He formed an independent production company and, in 1995, received an Oscar nomination for his third feature, Dust of Life.
The success of Days of Glory– beneficiary of raves throughout the planet – pushed him to another level of celebrity. Bouchareb now finds himself a key interpreter of the immigrant experience in France. Days of Gloryeven managed to trigger a change in French law. To that point, soldiers from the former colonies did not receive full pensions.
“Well, that was the plan in making the film,” he says. “After Cannes we had a screening with cast and crew and the French president. We also asked for people to write to the president and, after the film was released, he dragged in his pension minister and demanded a law changing pension rights. That film really changed things. We even changed the history school books. There was nothing about the colonial armies before.”
As we are in London, I feel it incumbent on me to patronisingly explain the very similar story involving the Gurkhas. Bouchareb will probably not be aware that recently, assisted by Joanna Lumley, the Nepalese soldiers won a battle for settlement rights in the UK.
Halfway through my meander, the director politely interjects. “Oh yes. We actually showed the film to the Gurkhas. Then we had a march down to the prime minister to give him a letter. We didn’t get to see him, though – just the guy at the door.”
Featuring two delicate, gorgeously contrasting performances – an ailing Kouyaté required an oxygen tank to keep upright – London Riveris coloured by quieter rage than that which characterises Days of Gloryand the forthcoming Outside the Law. No serious attempt is made to address the suicide bombers' motivations. The film is all about that central relationship.
“The difference between the characters – and the actors – is the subject of the film. The lack of knowledge between them creates this great tension. That was a very interesting thing to explore,” Bouchareb says.
By way of contrast, Outside the Lawis fuelled by a healthy degree of fury. Beginning with a colonial atrocity in post-war Algeria, the film follows three brothers as they make their way to Paris and – to different degrees – become caught up in the domestic campaign for independence. Bouchareb has mentioned The Wind that Shakes the Barleyas an influence, and the intemperate response from the French right recalls the tabloid fury that greeted Loach's film on its UK release. Forty-four years ago, Gillo Pontecorvo's untouchable Battle of Algiersstirred up similar huffing and puffing.
"Yes. It's a weird thing," he says. "But I wasn't surprised by the Cannes protest. There were politicians in the south of France who have a clear agenda. And these guys, nostalgic for colonial times, tried to ban it. Now, that did surprise me. All these years after they tried to ban Battle of Algiers, they were trying to ban us without even seeing the film. Censorship seems to have become acceptable again."
Has it? “There’s a real mystery here,” he laughs. “France likes to be seen as a country that loves freedom. When Michael Moore makes a film about Bush, that’s great. Well done, Michael. It’s another thing altogether when somebody makes a film that makes the French look at themselves.”
At any rate, despite the occasional dust-up, at 56, Rachid Bouchareb now finds himself a distinguished member of the French artistic establishment.
Occasionally, however, his Algerian heritage and Gallic background come into conflict. As we speak, the World Cup is just grinding into action. France have yet to disgrace themselves. Algeria have yet to disgrace the English. Does Rachid have to wear two hats (or blow two, different- coloured vuvuzelas)?
“Ha ha! It is not a problem. After all, so many of the French team are of Algerian descent. Look at Zidane. He will support the Algerians as well. There is one thing my family don’t want, however: a final between France and Algeria. That would be a problem.” No such difficulties arose.
- London Riveropens August 6
Many Londons Seedy, sanitised, supercalifragilistic...
Noting the mutability, cultural diversity and sheer hugeness of the English capital, we should, perhaps, not be surprised that there is no quintessential London film. Perhaps London Riveris the key film about Muslim life in Finsbury Park during the first decade of the 21st century.
You might argue that Performance(1970) covers the seedier end of Notting Hill at the fag end of the swinging era.
Interested in contemporary lower middle-class north London Lives? Well, check out Mike Leigh films such as High Hopes(1988), Life Is Sweet(1990) or Secrets and Lies(1996).
Want to know about West Indian concerns in Thatcher's capital? Franco Rosso's excellent Babylon(1980) is certainly worth a look.
All these pictures were, of course, shot on location and, thus, carry some of the genuine smells and flavours of London life. That is not to say fantasy versions of London do not have their pleasures. The bluebird-infested magic city of Mary Poppins(1964) remains, for example, durably irresistible.
The sanitised London in Richard Curtis films such as Notting Hill(1999) and Four Weddings and a Funeral(1994) slides sweetly down the throat without irritating the sides.
Still, if you are going to lean towards heightened stereotypes, surely it's more fun to play around with the fog-fuelled, gin-drenched, murder-friendly version of the metropolis. Variations on East End gothic are available in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger(1927), David Lean's Oliver Twist(1948) and David Lynch's The Elephant Man(1980).
After sitting through that triple bill, you'll deserve a glass of pig's ear and a hot Ruby Murray. Then again, you could cheer yourself up with a series of films that managed to blend creative absurdity with real London colour. Nothing beats an Ealing comedy. The Ladykillers(1955) spread unease about King's Cross. The Lavender Hill Mob(1951) lurked in the Clapham area. Passport to Pimlico(1949) scattered mayhem about the streets south of Victoria Station.
So, yes, whereas there are films set in every corner of the city, no quintessential London movie announces itself. There is, however, one unbeatable film called London. In 1994, Patrick Keiller, architect and psycho-geographer, released an extraordinary documentary detailing the apparent decline of the imperial city. Now available in a beautiful edition from the British Film Institute, Keiller’s London is, perhaps, a tad too pessimistic. It is, however, undoubtedly one of a kind. Seek it out.
