by Ariston Anderson

Set during the Algerian war for independence, David Oelhoffen's Far From Men stars Viggo Mortensen as Daru, a school teacher who must transport a prisoner, Mohamed, played Reda Keteb, to his trial. Daru, a former World War II captain, has done all he can to get away the violence of war, but is pulled right back into it with an assignment he can't escape. Daru and Mohamed seemingly have nothing in common, and Daru resents the job, but over the course of his mission their relationship mirrors the larger war.

To play the role, Mortensen had to rework his French, a language that he originally learned as the Canadian variety to adapt to the Algerian dialect, as well as take on Arabic. The actor, who also speaks Danish, Spanish and Italian, is no stranger to new languages. The Hollywood Reporter spoke to the actor after Far From Men's premiere in Venice about his perfectionism is studying accents, why the solution to conflict begins with two people and why being an actor allows him to be in tip-top shape mentally and physically.

What's your secret for learning languages quickly?

Well, it helps if when you were a kid, if you grew up with more than one. I grew up bilingual, in Spanish and English primarily, and also I would hear my father who was speaking Danish with his friends. So when I as a teenager made a conscious effort to learn Danish. Danish is a difficult language to learn, maybe more difficult than Arabic in a way.

How important is it for you to really master accents?

It's one thing that's got to be less distracting for the audience. It will help them believe in the story if you do it correctly. I always make an effort. It's the same thing as making sure that the clothes I'm wearing are right for the character, the books he is reading that I know what the books are, the objects I handle. The language is one more part of this person.

In this case it was, for Daru, it was important for him to speak a French with an accent that would be particular to this guy from this part of Algeria and an Arabic that was correct. I worked hard on that. The French took a little longer just to make sure it was right.

How long did it take you to master the French and Arabic?

I think I worked a lot. I worked for months and in Spain, where I live, I found someone who was from North Africa, and he helped me a lot. I looked at the whole script, and I made sure I could say it all in Arabic and made sure it was Arabic from that region.

Why does the film focus on the relationship between two men, when the world around them seems to be falling to pieces?

I think that people have been predicting the end of the world for as long as there have been people. I think it's easy to get overwhelmed especially with all the stuff you see in the news and to think "Well, I can't do anything. What the hell, I'd just better protect my own things, my family, my possessions, my safety." Because you feel like you can do nothing, it's like, "The world is completely out of control, what can I do?"

But it really starts literally with a handshake or sharing a meal or listening to the other person. As you see in this movie, it's just focusing on two people. One is doing what he thinks he needs to do — I don't think he really wants to die, but he is doing what he thinks he should do — and the other guy resents having to be part of this person's death.

But you can't escape death and you can't escape life. I mean, you can, you can slit your throat and it's over for you, although the consequences of your death will affect other people. But while you are alive, part of life is dealing with suffering and unpleasant surprises and sometimes really pleasant surprises, things that you wouldn't learn if you weren't in contact with other people, that you are not gonna learn by yourself and I think that people will make those connections with what's going on in the world now, by virtue of seeing what happens with these two people.

The story is obviously very relevant today. What's the lesson it's teaching?

I thought many times when we were shooting, obviously I thought about Palestine, I thought about Iraq and other places. But I also thought about Argentina and Europeans coming and dispossessing and slaughtering the native population and about the United States and Australia but particularly United States and Argentina, places I have lived in. I have friends in both countries that are descendants of native people.

On my mother's side I am related to Buffalo Bill, William F. Cody, who was part of the Europeans that went like, "Let's take this land and make it ours, in our way." So it's not just Arab and European, it's colonizing influence, supposed civilizing influence. And the people who live there, before you came there, maybe they have a different idea of what's good for them.

But in the end you are together so you can't remain either what you were or what you want to be, it's gonna be something in between, and the sooner you meet in the middle, the sooner you'll be able to heal old wounds.

That's the problem; the difficult thing is for people to meet in the middle, especially for politicians, but also terrorist organizations or political activists, associations on the left or the right. When you change your firm stance, the language that you speak politically or the people you are associating with or shaking hands with, the minute you step outside of what you are supposed to stay in, your tribal area, then you are a traitor, a coward. You can't look at it that way. You have to reach out.

What's the most challenging thing about taking on a role like this?

I'm interested in movie storytelling in general. To do it well, you have to stay open. You have to be flexible and you have to learn new ways of dealing with new problems, new obstacles. But in life I think it's natural for people as they get older, their muscles, their arteries, their thinking, everything shrinks, everything becomes more limited and you have to make a conscious effort as you get older, to get exercise, to try to stay more flexible.

But you have to do it. You can't just sit there and think you are gonna be like when you're a kid, when you're nine years old and you never get hurt. And you can remember things without writing them down. When you get older you have to make more of an effort. It's harder to learn a new language, it's harder to learn a new physical skill, but you can do it. You just have to apply yourself.

Are you really regimented? Do you get up and exercise and study?

No, I watch a lot of football, very regularly. But I fortunately like to walk a lot, and I like to move around. I get a certain amount of exercise. But in terms of being disciplined about reading the books or working on languages or working physically on things, it's good to have a job that requires me to do it.

The movie I'm doing right now [Captain Fantastic], I'm shooting in the United States. It's one where I have to be in good shape physically. It's very active. So it made me focus on that, in a way that, in normal...life, I can be kind of lazy. I mean, I've lots of interests. I'll do this; I'll do that; I'll watch this movie; I'll read part of this book. I'm kind of all over the place. But with a movie like [Far From Men] it's like OK, two hours a day you have to work on the Arabic or you're not going to be ready.

Having done both, do you have a preference for independent movies over Hollywood blockbusters?

Well, I'm not consciously doing that. I'm basically looking for stories — or I hope they find me — for something I'm interested in watching, that is a blueprint for a movie that I may wanna watch when it's finished or, twenty years from now, that I won't be embarrassed about being in.

The story is obviously very relevant today. What's the lesson it's teaching?

I thought many times when we were shooting, obviously I thought about Palestine, I thought about Iraq and other places. But I also thought about Argentina and Europeans coming and dispossessing and slaughtering the native population and about the United States and Australia but particularly United States and Argentina, places I have lived in. I have friends in both countries that are descendants of native people.

On my mother's side I am related to Buffalo Bill, William F. Cody, who was part of the Europeans that went like, "Let's take this land and make it ours, in our way." So it's not just Arab and European, it's colonizing influence, supposed civilizing influence. And the people who live there, before you came there, maybe they have a different idea of what's good for them.

But in the end you are together so you can't remain either what you were or what you want to be, it's gonna be something in between, and the sooner you meet in the middle, the sooner you'll be able to heal old wounds.

That's the problem; the difficult thing is for people to meet in the middle, especially for politicians, but also terrorist organizations or political activists, associations on the left or the right. When you change your firm stance, the language that you speak politically or the people you are associating with or shaking hands with, the minute you step outside of what you are supposed to stay in, your tribal area, then you are a traitor, a coward. You can't look at it that way. You have to reach out.

What's the most challenging thing about taking on a role like this?

I'm interested in movie storytelling in general. To do it well, you have to stay open. You have to be flexible and you have to learn new ways of dealing with new problems, new obstacles. But in life I think it's natural for people as they get older, their muscles, their arteries, their thinking, everything shrinks, everything becomes more limited and you have to make a conscious effort as you get older, to get exercise, to try to stay more flexible.

But you have to do it. You can't just sit there and think you are gonna be like when you're a kid, when you're nine years old and you never get hurt. And you can remember things without writing them down. When you get older you have to make more of an effort. It's harder to learn a new language, it's harder to learn a new physical skill, but you can do it. You just have to apply yourself.

Are you really regimented? Do you get up and exercise and study?

No, I watch a lot of football, very regularly. But I fortunately like to walk a lot, and I like to move around. I get a certain amount of exercise. But in terms of being disciplined about reading the books or working on languages or working physically on things, it's good to have a job that requires me to do it.

The movie I'm doing right now [Captain Fantastic], I'm shooting in the United States. It's one where I have to be in good shape physically. It's very active. So it made me focus on that, in a way that, in normal...life, I can be kind of lazy. I mean, I've lots of interests. I'll do this; I'll do that; I'll watch this movie; I'll read part of this book. I'm kind of all over the place. But with a movie like [Far From Men] it's like OK, two hours a day you have to work on the Arabic or you're not going to be ready.

Having done both, do you have a preference for independent movies over Hollywood blockbusters?

Well, I'm not consciously doing that. I'm basically looking for stories — or I hope they find me — for something I'm interested in watching, that is a blueprint for a movie that I may wanna watch when it's finished or, twenty years from now, that I won't be embarrassed about being in.

★★★★★

Adapted from the Albert Camus short story The Guest, David Oelhoffen's second feature Far from Men (2014), a handsomely shot drama set during the Algerian War of Independence, joined the race for the Golden Lion at Venice 2014. Following his Spanish language Cannes entry Jauja (2014) earlier this year, multi-lingual Viggo Mortensen essays the role of Algerian-born Frenchman Daru, a teacher in an isolated school near the mountains. It is 1954 and the rebellion against French colonialism is in full swing. One day the local policeman turns up on horseback with a prisoner roped behind. Daru must escort the man to the nearby town where he is to be tried for murdering his cousin.

At first Daru refuses, a man of principle he will not be party to sending another man to his death. However, the vexed official leaves the prisoner Mohamed (Reda Kateb) behind and when the relatives of the dead man attack the school in order to exact blood vengeance, Daru is forced to start on the journey. The two men travelling on foot through roughest terrain, past abandoned villages and exposed to the elements and violence from all sides: first, the relatives of the dead man, but then enraged local French farmers who are happy to hang any Arab they find suspicious regardless of the crime. There are also bandits in the hills, but by far the biggest danger comes from the escalating war between the rebellion of national liberation and a murderously extreme French army with orders to take no prisoners.

Far from Men is set up like a classic western: there are horses and gunfights and even at one point a saloon. The isolation of the schoolhouse brings to mind The Searchers, while Daru's mission - such as it is - feels like 3:10 to Tinguit. Daru's war veteran turned pacifist has something of Henry Fonda's nobleness and Mortensen is one of the few actors working today (Mads Mikkelsen is another) who can make straightforward goodness into a rich and interesting character. There's even a little of Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) here, as the unlikely pair cross and re-cross invisible battle fronts. However, this isn't some generic, postmodern experiment. 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.

The nascent friendship between Daru and his charge matures into a friendship as both characters learn to understand their situation better. Mohammad refuses the freedom Daru offers him, preferring to go to his death for noble reasons that belong to a culture that the didactic Daru doesn't - despite his lifetime spent in Algeria - fully understand. Kateb is fantastic as well, matching Mortensen's star power with a portrait in a different kind of honour. This is all set in the context of a magnificent widescreen landscape of desert and mountain range, shot by Guillaume Deffontaines. This visual polish is not for its own sake, however, and the extremes of weather and location are used to admirable effect, pitting our tiny individuals against the enormity not only of the hostile land, but of historical forces far beyond their mutual control.

Far from Men is further bolstered by a stunning score courtesy of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, a fitting companion piece to their work on John Hillcoat's Australia-set The Proposition (2005). They effectively blend local instruments without falling into exotic clichés, creating a soundscape - a little reminiscent of Philip Glass' score for Kundun (1997) - to match the epic proportions on screen. Mortensen has parleyed his success and fame from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy into the possibility to make a wide range of experiments. In this case, he's amply rewarded with a film from Oelhoffen that's both a riveting, old-fashioned adventure and a politically considered treatment of a dark period in French colonial history.