La voie de l'ennemi

A small town in New Mexico surrounded by desert which, time and again as the day breaks, disgorges an increasing number of Mexicans who have either been murdered or have died of thirst. A convict is released from prison. Thanks to his new-found Muslim faith, William Garnett’s behaviour has been exemplary and, with the aid of a sympathetic parole officer, he begins a new life in the town. But his past is well-known and before long, a sheriff bent on revenge and an ex-crony from the underworld are both breathing down his neck. Garnett must conquer the demons of his past. He finds support in the shape of his parole officer, his faith and a new love. Rachid Bouchareb’s La voie de l'ennemi is a new adaptation of the 1973 thriller Deux hommes dans la ville, in which novelist and director José Giovanni, who himself served a prison sentence, explored the injustices of the French judicial system. Bouchareb transposes the novel’s plot to the social and political landscape of today’s America. Forest Whitaker and Harvey Keitel embody extremes of power and abuse, reconciliation and revenge in this Kafkaesque drama.