Danish-Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel brings us To a Land Unknown, which follows two Palestinian refugees on a tumultuous journey trying to move to Germany. Dáire from Phoenix Film shares his thoughts on the film below.
Dáire’s review
We follow two Palestinian cousins, stuck in Greece after being swindled by smugglers, who are now planning a route to Germany to start a bakery and reunite with their family. Mahmoud Bakri’s performance as Chaltilla, the stoic and perturbed brain who is anxious to see his wife and child again, is balanced well with his travelling partner Reda, played by Aram Sabbah, who is very much the more optimistic heart with troubles of his own.
Additional notable performances come from Angeliki Papoulia, a local who grows fond of Chaltilla, and Mohammad Alsurafa, a child stuck in similar circumstances and left to fend for himself. We see their struggle to get by, scrounge for what they can to meet their end goal, all the while disconnected from the wider Athens community: the good, the bad, the kindness and cruelty. As plans change, we see the effect the desperate situation has on our leads and the narrowing choices they have left.
Highlighting much-needed empathy for our fellow man and the unnecessary brutality we put each
other through, To a Land Unknown is certainly worth watching.
To a Land Unknown is now playing in select Irish cinemas
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