Writer-director Mahdi Fleifel follows in the footsteps of the Dardenne brothers with the dramatic, sociopolitical thriller To a Land Unknown. Realism is key; with an almost documentary approach, the filmmaker observes the tragic lives of his protagonists, never shying away from grit — the world here is all cracked concrete, shredded walls, and dingy back alleys — and ultimately makes a resonant statement about the trials and tribulations of the displaced.
Palestinian refugee Chatila (Mahmood Bakri) survives by thieving and frequently resorting to worse crimes in the slums of Athens. “We hustle people. We steal from them,” he confides to his wife over the phone. He sleeps in a ramshackle apartment with his cousin Reda (Aram Sabbah). He plans to reunite with his wife and son in Germany; the cousins harbor humble dreams of running a café.
To a Land Unknown rapidly throws obstacles in the way. Reda is a drug addict, screwing up and losing all the money they’ve been saving up for fake passports. They hatch a scheme. A little orphaned boy has to be smuggled to his aunt in Italy for a measly 4,000 Euros. Our (anti)heroes have to find a “respectable-looking mother” for the kid; Chatila narrows down on Tatiana (Angeliki Papoulia), a local alcoholic. “You think I’m tragic, huh?” she says. “But I’m not stupid. And I know men. So, how much money are you gonna make?” They strike a deal.
Angeliki Papoulia and Mahmood Bakri appear in a pivotal scene from To a Land Unknown.
“…Chatila survives by thieving and frequently resorting to worse crimes in the slums of Athens.”
But then things get more complicated and Chatila hatches an elaborate plan, which involves a local smuggler, an alleged border crossing, hostages, and torture. The cousins resort to extreme measures to make their dream come true. This all leads to a somewhat predictable, yet no less somber, ending.
Perhaps that’s the key difference between Fleifel and the Dardennes. The Belgian siblings dial down all the exposition and narrative complications, thinning the tension with a scalpel until it thrums in the background. This filmmaker is more lax with embellishments, not afraid to really tighten those screws and take his audience on a ride. That’s not to say To a Land Unknown has no moments of quiet, verisimilitude, poignancy, and subtlety; it’s chock-full of them.
The two leads are so devastatingly natural, it’s hard to believe they haven’t actually lived through the ordeal. Despite the gritty realism, there’s poetry and beauty here; one of the highlights is an extended poem recited by members of the terrific ensemble cast. Fleifel and his co-writers, Jason McClogan and Fyzal Boulifa, are masters of subliminal tension.
The leads are pushed to do things they would never usually do – by society, by politics, by the regimes of their homes and the countries that overtook them. Displaced, they may be, but despite the freedom and privileges a country like Greece offers, they still long for home: “at least, I’d die in peace.” Stripped away off all privileges, a shell of a human remains, a carcass, and that glimmer of hope that keeps one going is the driving nucleus of the lyrical and timely To a Land Unknown.
"…there's poetry and beauty here; one of the highlights literally being an extended poem..."
