Funny Felix = Drole de felix [Widescreen]

Felix (Sami Bouajila) is an Arab French man who, on finding himself unemployed at his job on the wharfs of Callais, decides to undertake a five day hitchhiking journey to find his estranged father in Marseilles. Organizing for his boyfriend to meet him at the end of the week, Felix takes up his backpack and begins a road trip which becomes an investigation of not only contemporary France, but also a deeply human exploration of the meaning of family. Whilst he confronts bigotry and violence on the way, he also engages in fleeting but emotionally rich encounters with women and men who become a surrogate brother, grandmother, cousin, sister and father for him. ‘Funny Felix’ is one of the best examples of the new humanist French cinema that has developed in the late 1990s. Though acknowledging the social divisions and fissures of contemporary Europe, films such as ‘Funny Felix’ are committed to celebrating and detailing the diverse experiences of modern working class lives. In contrast to English-language gay themes films, “Funny Felix” is free of moralism and segregated identities. Felix, whose positive HIV-status is treated with compassion, but also with blithe acceptance, is expertly played by Bouajila. The cast includes Ariane Ascardie and Patachou. In French with with English subtitles.