Outside the Law (French: Hors-la-loi, Arabic: خارجون عن القانون) is a 2010 drama film directed by Rachid Bouchareb, starring Jamel Debbouze, Roschdy Zem and Sami Bouajila.

[3] The film was written with actors Jamel Debbouze, Roschdy Zem and Sami Bouajila in mind from the beginning.

Debbouze described his role's place as the youngest brother, and stronger ties to the family, as a key for approaching the character.

"[4] Bouajila said about developing his character, "I tried to work out how, through his convictions or pride, a man can fall into the trap of his own charisma and drag other people with him.

Difficult to leave Outside the Law without a feeling of guilt, already caused with Days of Glory by Bouchareb, who, by filming the opposite Maghrebin side, presses where it hurts in the official history of France.

"[12] Le Monde's Thomas Sotinel criticised the film for using stereotypes, and how too much artifice in the narrative "stifles the efforts of the actors," concluding that "Outside the Law collapses under the weight of the spectacle.

[15] The Philadelphia Inquirer published a review by Carrie Rickey, who wrote, "Under the obvious influence of Francis Ford Coppola, Bouchareb frames his shadow-ridden guerrilla heroes as the Algerian counterparts of the Corleones", referring to the American film The Godfather, and further that Outside the Law owes "an enormous debt to Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows (1969), about French resistance fighters one-minded in their goal to subvert Nazis".

Rickey wrote, "Bouchareb is sometimes a little too one-minded: His movie might have been richer emotionally had he written scenes showing the characters' domestic lives and not strictly their professional spheres.

"[16] Stephen Holden of The New York Times called Outside the Law a "didactic, unashamedly manipulative film", and also saw parallels to The Godfather and Army of Shadows: "Those are mighty shoes to fill, and as powerful and well-made as it is, Outside the Law is too schematic and single-minded to lodge itself in your mind as a fully realized cinematic epic.

Lionnel Luca, a member of the National Assembly for the UMP, appealed for a review by the Defence Historical Service as soon as he heard about the project.

The report elaborated, "The director wants to suggest that on May 8, 1945, Muslims in Sétif were blindly massacred by Europeans, whereas it's the contrary that transpired[.]

"[20] This reaction is at odds with mainstream history, which concluded that, after restoring order in the town, French military and police then carried out a series of reprisals and summary executions of native civilians.

[23] The film opened on 400 screens in France, with 195,242 admissions after one week, which equaled a fifth place on the domestic box-office chart.

[5] Bouchareb has stated his desire to make a third installment that would end a trilogy that started with Days of Glory and continued with Outside the Law.