“Free Men,” one of the feature films in the 2012 St. Louis Jewish Film Festival, is a gripping French historical drama about Paris mosque that aided Jewish families during the Nazi occupation.

Several recent historical films have re-examined events in occupied France, including last year’s “Sarah’s Key” and “The Round Up” (“Le Rafle”), the festival’s bonus film last August. These films often expose the shameful extent of official French authorities’ collaboration with the Nazis while spotlighting private individuals engaged in acts of bravery and resistance, often dealing with matters with great moral subtleties.

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“Free Men” is a fact-based thriller centered on events in Paris’ main mosque during WWII. While Nazi officers toured the mosque’s gardens, admired Islamic art and dined with the dignitaries from the Arab world, the mosque’s leaders secretly sheltered Jews and members of the resistance in the structure’s lower levels.

The story begins with Younes (Tahar Rahim), a young Algerian immigrant. Younes only wants to make some money and return to Algeria, steering clear of political involvements. Yet, he finds himself drawn into the resistance, in part by an unexpected friendship with a Jewish man.

Younes followed his older brother Ali (Farid Larbi) to Paris, one of the last of a wave of laborers to arrive in 1939, before the war shut the doors on immigration. He is selling black market cigarettes and tea to the poor Algerian men camped out in back alleys when the French authorities pick him up. Hunting for illegal immigrants, they press Younes into service to spy on the Paris mosque and report on suspicious activities.

The mosque also serves as an embassy to the Arab world, headed by spiritual and diplomatic leader Si Kaddour Ben Ghabrit (Michael Lonsdale). Hanging around the mosque day by day, Younes catches glimpses of a beautiful woman named Leila (Lubna Azabal), finds his brother Ali and befriends a gifted young Algerian singer named Salim Halali (Mahmoud Shalaby), who is concealing his Jewish identity.

The French police suspect the mosque of harboring illegal immigrants but, in fact, what they are doing is aiding Jewish families, partly by issuing papers of Arab identity. They also are hiding people, including Algerians who joined the resistance, like the mysterious Leila, with dreams of freedom for their homeland after the war.

While Younes is a composite character based on several people, the leader of the mosque Ben Ghabrit and the singer Salim Halali are real historic figures. Director Ismael Ferroukhi co-wrote the script with Alain-Michel Blanc, and many of the film’s events and details were drawn from historic documents. “Free Men” has been featured in several festivals, including Cannes and Toronto in 2011, and several Jewish film festivals internationally.

The acting is superb. Tahar Rahim, who starred in the marvelous French crime thriller “A Prophet,” brings that same remarkable talent to this role. Lonsdale, who played a monk in last year’s “Of Gods and Men,” creates a strong character who is kindly towards the people he is protecting and to Younes, for whom he becomes a kind of moral compass, yet is surprisingly cunning in deflecting the attention of the Nazi and French authorities. Ben Ghabrit is smoothly charming as he interacts with the Nazis, never hinting at his true feelings while he is sheltering resistance fighters and Jews under their very noses. Mahmoud Shalaby’s Salim is a compelling figure, hypnotic as the charismatic singer and both brave and graceful as he hides in plain sight.

The film unfolds like a political thriller but with a human heart, picking up its pace and building tension as layers of secrets are peeled back. There is a touch of “Casablanca” in this tale, with people drawn unexpectedly into morally complex ground. The director crafts the story well, bringing out strong performances from the cast, while the action is presented with beautifully composed cinematography in this first-rate production.

“Free Men” is an outstanding work, highlighting a little-known bit of history. This film is sure to please discerning, thoughtful audiences while also delivering thrilling entertainment.