Limbo

I really enjoyed this film. The cinematography is outstanding and beutiful. Some shots are so beautiful it's worth a second watch just to appreciate them. Please watch this movie!

Almost turned into Aki Kaurismaki's pupil, the Scottish director manages to create a fun, moving and profound story about the refugee drama. That sarcastic look that places a group of refugees on some remote Scottish islands where nothing happens except the ups and downs of the weather, creates a story that is humorous but slowly turns to melancholy. The same one that the protagonist has, anchored in a limbo that is physical, but above all, vital.

I came across this film and I felt intrigued to see it and I'm glad I did. This film is so beautifully made and is very touching and moving. The story follows the young Syrian Omar (Amir El-Masry) who ends up in a remote Scottish island until he finds out if he's granted asylum. He lives with three other immigrants from other nationalities and they live in a small house in the middle of nowhere, while they attend cultural awareness sessions to develop their social skills. Omar doesn't say much, but his eyes says it all. He feels alone and out of place, while he's an aspiring musician who plays the oud, he never played since he left Syria, and due to a hand injury he remains unable to play. He calls his parents over the phone, where they tell him about their struggle as well, as they live in Turkey, while his brother Nabil remains in Syria to fight for his country. Omar feels that he's not good enough as his brave brother who wasn't afraid to stay in his war-torn country, while he's haunted by his father's words who keeps reminding him " a musician who doesn't play, is a dead man". Omar struggles with his memories of his life with his family back home, where they used to grow apricots and sing old songs, and he used to play oud in front of audience. But now he just wanders the open roads and fields, and he just talks with his roommate Farhad, who's been waiting for more than two years for his asylum claim. Omar walks everywhere with his oud case which was given to him by his grandfather, maybe because he doesn't want to lose it, as it's the only thing he has left that reminds him of his old life. The film has a lot of other moving stories related to the other immigrants and Omar's relationship with his brother, as all of them highlight how cruel it is for any refugee who's forced to leave his country and venture into the unknown, while leaving his loved ones behind and facing a world he doesn't recognize or belong to. The writer and director Ben Sharrock was able to capture the inner feelings of an Arab in a foreign country, and the Cinematography of the vast landscape with very beautiful. Also the depiction of Arab songs was lovely especially the song in the end titles by Magda El Romi. This is one of those rare films that is so human and it's brilliance lies in its simplicity yet it has such great emotional depth. Finally Amir El-Masry is such a talented actor, who could be the next Rami Malek, who knows.

The writer / director achieved what I can call the hero change from within , where the protagonist took the same open road at the end but the journey changed him completely. From my humble opinion, this is how a festival film should look like. Although a lot of films tried to tackle the Syrian refugee case but this film was totally different, using filmmaking to tell the story in an artistic and sarcastic way.

The second best work from UK for the year 2021, though the film was released in 2020, it made the major film festival runs in 2021. ( My best film from UK in the same period remains Uberto Pasolini's "Nowhere Special.)

"Limbo" has won the top honors at the Scottish BAFTAs, Cairo and Brussels international film festivals. It is a more realistic film depicting the turmoil in the minds of Syrian refugees than "The man who sold his skin" made in the same year. Omar is a realistic and honest Syrian fleeing his homeland that he loves. The performances are credible--but Vikash Bhai's Farhad--an Afghan Zoroastrian, while lovable, has no obvious touches of a Farsi-speaking Afghan with an unmistakable Afghan accent but more of an Indian Parsee speaking English.

The most fascinating touch for me was the almost static camera capturing the empty road ahead of it as a metaphor of the unsure wait of the refugees The second best sequence was the "Jacques Tati" like visual sequence of the postman's car delivering main captured with humor. Young Sharrock has a great potential and needs to walk down "the empty road" (repeatedly shown in his film) to be a major force like Ken Loach.