Two Men in Town (2014)

A Muslim ex-con forms a friendship with his parole officer.

Director:

Rachid Bouchareb

Writers:

Olivier Lorelle (adaptation), Yasmina Khadra (adaptation)

Stars:

Ellen Burstyn, Forest Whitaker, Brenda Blethyn

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Ellen Burstyn	...	Garnett's mother
Forest Whitaker	...	William Garnett
Brenda Blethyn	...	Emily Smith
Harvey Keitel	...	Bill Agati
Luis Guzmán	...	Terence
Tim Guinee	...	Rod
Reg E. Cathey	...	Supervisor Jones
Sarah Minnich	...	Christina
Matthew Page	...	Prison Guard
Dolores Heredia	...	Teresa Flores
Michael Anthony Stone	...	Sheriff Deputy (as Michael Stone)
Robert Dean	...	Deputy
Stan Carp	...	Richard Wayne
Chris Ranney	...	Parolee
Joshua R. Aragon	...	Parole

Storyline

Forest Whitaker plays a parolee, who finds Allah inside, and tries to get his life on track after 18 years. He's off to a good start with a job, a bank account, and a good woman. Of course his old partner in crime tries hard to get him to come back to his old ways, but the real problem is the sheriff in town who won't let him forget his dark past.

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Plot Keywords:

new mexico | new mexico desert | new mexico mexico border | muslim | parole officer | 

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Taglines:

One man's freedom is another man's obsession.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film cast includes two Oscar winners: Forest Whitaker and Ellen Burstyn; and two Oscar nominees: Harvey Keitel and Brenda Blethyn.

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Quotes

Bill Agati: You can't break the law to enforce the law.

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Connections

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

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Soundtracks

Two Men in Town
by Éric Neveux
© 2014 Pathé Production / Tessalit Productions

User Reviews

The good, bad, and ugly about the movie...

The Good: Brenda Blethyn acting was natural, and you feel it is your mom, and you are connected to her.

Harvey Keitel missed him lately, and filled his role.

Forest Whitaker is excellent as usual in his acting, but not convincing in practicing Islamic prayer, from a Muslim perspective...it might be OK for westerner just to mumble and put water on his hand, but that is not how we prepare for prayer or pray.

The Bad: Prayer scenes to start with. Usually a Muslim convert is a devoted Mulsim as he converted into this faith cause he found himself in it and the religion was not reflected on his character, other than pretending to be calm or looking for peace...not convincing that much...Religion was there for just being there with no added value.

The Ugly: I have it when there is no effort is spent to have the Muslim practice correct in the film, and worse when the producer and director of the movie is supposed to know more about Muslim practice. The preparation for the prayer was wrong, and the recitation of the prayer was stupid!

Details

Country:

France Belgium Algeria USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 March 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Enemy Way

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$213,204

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tessalit Productions, Pathé, Agence Algérienne pour le Rayonnement Culturel (AARC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1