Reise der Hoffnung

Tragically heart wrenching drama about a Turkish couple and son who cross the Swiss Alps illegally in search of a new life. Realistic. Moving. Sad. Unforgettable. Won the 1990 Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film.

How many Turkish movies have you seen? This was my first. I found this movie a little better than "fair." The story was a bit depressing but the cinematography was very good. There was some beautiful night-time photography.

It's the story of a Kurdish man and his wife making a trip, with one of their seven children, to Switzerland in order to find a better life. Hardships abound, thanks to unscrupulous "sympathizers" and they wind up having to travel on foot with other people over the long journey. That journey includes walking up and over snowy mountains.

A tough but inspiring story, which is what it was meant to me.

As in Argentina, France, Italy, Spain and United States, among other, they suffer of the illegal immigration. This movie transports us toward Switzerland, country recognized by its neutrality and hospitality toward the rest of the world. The main characters are a family of Turks that they yearn to be able to go to the earth of their dreams: Switzerland, to feel well, since Turkey is not very economically and labor. All clever one so that Haydar and their wife can carry out their dream, carried out passports, passages... but they will have a complication, they will take to one of their children: Mehmet Ali. Of a supposition trip of pleasure toward the "earth of their dream" will go by unexpected situations, as to travel in an export craft or to try to enter to Switzerland in hidden truck, since Mehmet Ali doesn't possess neither passage neither passport. They will be in the same situation that other immigrants that want to enter there; they will go by the Alps, a beautiful place but at the same time cold and where they will happen totally unexpected situations. Xavier Koller obtains with "Journey of Hope" an astonishing realization that makes us see that each one has the dream of being able to go to the place that offers them peace, but that they will also go by unexpected moments, with an end that could be unexpected for the spectator. Deserved of the Oscar like Best Foreign Language Film 1990/1991. My opinion: Wonderful, Human, One of the Best Foreign Film Oscar winner. Don't get lost it.

This film takes you on one family's impossible journey, and makes you feel every step of their odyssey. Beautifully acted and photographed, heartbreakingly real. Its last line, with its wistful hope, is one of the more powerful in memory.

"Journey of Hope" tells of a poor Turkish family and their odyssey of hope which spirals downward into despair as they travel to Switzerland in search of prosperity. Although this Oscar winning film is fairly well crafted, it is lacking in substance and has many implausibilities. Much of the film's 1.7 hour run time is get on the bus, get off the bus, get on the boat, get off the boat, get in the van, get out of the van, etc.; time which could have been better spent or left out completely. The story has a predictable conclusion, especially for those who have an awareness of the common crime of trafficking in illegal immigrants. A worthwhile and reasonably entertaining watch but over-rated.