In This World

Plot synopsis:
Jamal and Enayatullah are Afghan refugees in a camp in Peshawar, Pakistan. They travel to Quetta, and thence to Taftan on the Iranian border. They pay people smugglers to assist them over the border; on their first attempt they are stopped by Iranian police and returned to Pakistan, but their second attempt is successful. They travel to Tehran and then to Maku, in the Kurdish part of Iran, from where they cross a mountain range on foot to Turkey. In Istanbul they meet a group of other migrants, and they are taken to Italy inside a shipping container. The container is not ventilated, and most of the refugees, including Enayatullah, are suffocated to death. Jamal survives and lives in Italy for a time. He then steals a woman's purse and buys a rail ticket to Paris. From there, he goes to the Sangatte asylum seekers camp and with a new friend, Yusef, he crosses the channel by stowing away on a lorry. Finally, he arrives in London, where he calls his uncle to say he has arrived but that Enyatullah is "not in this world". The film ends with images of the Peshawar refugees.

Tags: sentimental

Review:
Eclectic English film-maker Michael Winterbottom has produced his finest work to date with 'In this World', a pseudo-documentary account of the attempted journey of two Afghani refugees to London.
Their journey, of course, is no sort of holiday.Winterbottom steers clear of direct politics, but we see (along with great suffering) numerous examples of the small ways in which human beings can be nice to one another - the contrast with the xenophobic hatred of the Daily Mail is unspoken but clear.
Motivated by a news story about 58 Chinese immigrants found suffocated in a container at Dover, In This World by Michael Winterbottom is a passionate tribute to the nearly one million refugees a year who are willing to take enormous risks to seek a better life.
Winner of the Golden Bear at the 2003 Berlin International Film Festival, the film follows two boys, Jamal, 16 (Jamal Udin Torabi) and his older cousin Enayat (Enayatullah) on a perilous overland journey from an Afghan refugee camp in Pakistan to seek economic security in the West.
Shot in documentary style with a digital camera strapped to the back of cinematographer Marcel Zyskind, the film is fictional but is drawn from a true story and mirrors the desperate conditions of untold thousands whose faces we never see.
The story line is simple: two Afghan refugees, dispossessed in their land, struggling to survive (on 1 US $ a day, search for new life in a promised land - either the United Kingdom (London) or the USA.We are all aware of the prejudice meted out to those of middle Eastern descent by the leaders of these 'first world countries'; we are also aware that war and the rampage of war leads to dog-eats-dog scenario.Without preaching, the director takes us (through an involvement with the young leads, apparently not trained actors) through this world, moving from Afghanistan, to the East (Iran, Pakistan), and landing in Europe (Turkey, Italy, England).What struck me throughout was the single-mindedness displayed by the younger actors, as they have to cope with a world at once alien and familiar to them.
There are moments of intense kindness by strangers, balanced by the manipulation of others who are motivated by greed and an unempathetic bureaucracy too.Acting is naturalistic: there are some brilliant cameo shots - and Winterbottom has achieved a Herculean task; the film comes across as a real, hands-on documentary that is unscripted, and where events unfold before one's eyes.Aided by voice-overs and a montage of black and white images, this has a feel of historic truth, a sense of actuality about it.
Films like "In this world" show us the journey taken in search for the promised lands.
But it is merely representative of the many such stories that happen every day in this cruel exploitative business of people smuggling.This film makes it's point without being ponderous or preachy.
I felt I was there with these beautiful unfortunate young men on the horrendous journey to escape their life of poverty in a refugee camp.
The family of the Afghan Enayat and his cousin Jamal decides to send them illegally to London to have a better life.
However, the long journey locked in a container with other families separates the cousins and on 09 August 2002, Jamal has his asylum application refused in London."In This World" is a bleak docu-drama from the great British director Michael Winterbottom.
The realistic story of the long and dangerous journey of the cousins Jamal and Enayat from Pakistan to London and to the Other World is simply amazing, with two amateurish actors in the lead roles living the reality of their people.
The claustrophobic scene of the refugees locked inside the small container is so anguishing that made me nervous in my couch at home, Rambo III" is "dedicated to the brave people of Afghanistan", in accordance with the final quote of Sylvester Stallone; but the homage of Michael Winterbottom is much more scathing and sharp.
I'm not very good at that, and there are better places to find them (in fact, I think it's better to view it without knowing the plot).What I do want to explain is how the concept is executed, and the effects it creates on the audience.Though I said this is a serious film, I don't mean it's a film that can only be understood by the super-intelligent.
The DV handheld camera and documentary feel is there all the way through the film, but at the start there was a quick voice over explaining a few things about the location.
Winterbottom and cinematographer Marcel Zyskind capture young faces and their action creditably (the young sibling who follows his brother as he leaves the refugee camp) at times and then slip up to the most shoddy camera-work soon after (local Pakistanis staring at the camera, shadows of vehicles carrying camera equipment on road sequences).
Is he trying to make a statement on cultural values across borders?I feel Winterbottom could have served better purpose if he had retained the elements of documentary and discussed the problems of refugees than dramatize the journey itself.
"In This World" is yet another exceptional film from Michael Winterbottom, who seems to be one of the best directors from the UK these days.
In This World charts the journey of two Afghan refugee brothers who leave their camp in Peshawar, Pakistan to seek a new life in London.
The epic voyage of Jemal and Emayat is an archetypal refugee journey from East to West; in a film lasting just 90 minutes, director Michael Winterbottom weaves together a taut and powerful narrative, encapsulating the encounters and journeys-within-journeys that characterise refugee lives.
From Peshawar to Sangatte (where would-be migrants to Britain crowd the French coast), the coherent and transfixing narrative brings together the names and places associated with countless refugee journeys.On Jemal and Enayat's journey there are so many glimpses of the world around  some enlightening, others mysterious  that you could watch this film again and again and be fascinated by new details each time.
Although Winterbottom rarely lets the pace of the film slacken  indeed, he hardly has the option in such a wide-ranging and ambitious undertaking  snatches of conversation, bickering and camaraderie develop the two brothers' characters: they feel like real people.
Jemal's humorous stories are particularly important in this regard, and, for me, the parodying of creation myths in these tales also suggests a much-warranted poking of fun at Western audiences, who often take a condescending interest in 'quaint' traditions.Through the use of a voice-over in the early stages of the film and recurring resort to a map to help chart the brothers' journey, Winterbottom adds overtly documentary-style elements to his film.
I still remember how much some of his movies like Jude or I want you had affected me, but this time the great film-maker from England has exceeded my expectations.
At times where racism is everywhere, Winterbottom dares to go to "other side" and make a film about the poor people from Afghanistan who suffered the most when Bush and his allies bombed their already very poor country.
How these refugees go to Pakistan live in tents and everything they have to go through when they decide to search for a better life in one of the world's biggest cities like London.
It's not that we don't know about these things already, it's just that we tend to forget them.Last year it was "Lilja 4ever" that made me more of aware of the problem of child prostitution and this year it was "In this World" who made me wonder if there is a way that I could help all these unfortunate people.
Stories like "In this World" and Lilja 4ever" (which I recommend to anyone who believes this film is important and a must-see for everyone who wants to be called a human being) can really change the world and make us better people.
The story, as it appears to unfold, is about a man wanting to travel from Afghanistan to London, through sometimes treacherous Mid-East countries, and the young guide who agrees, for a price, to take him there.
This movie made me feel very uncomfortable, mainly because it blurs the boundaries between documentary and feature film.
Had it been a genuine feature film based on a true story, it could have been a great movie.
However, the introductory comments turned it into a documentary style movie and keeps you wondering how can the film team let this happen, why do they not interfere?
As Winterbottom reveals in the additional footage and comments, the film crew intended to shoot some kind of road movie (paraphrase).
This review is for the moviegoers who love animals and don't particularly enjoy watching snuff films ("snuff" meaning any film where animals or humans are actually killed at the filmmaker's discretion).If live beheadings aren't your thing (animal or human), then you might want to miss this one.First off, "In This World" is a work of fiction, despite its documentary approach which might fool people who are casually flipping channels.
Make no mistake, every scene was scripted, the people are actors, and everything we see is dictated by the director Mr. Winterbottom.About 10 minutes into the movie, I suppose to convince us of the authenticity of refugee life (as if we hadn't gotten that from the first 10 minutes of wordless images of the harsh environment), Winterbottom feels the need to stage a water buffalo being slaughtered.
The human smuggling drama unfolds steadily with a few good plot twists, as the 2 main characters trek across two continents (mostly by land) toward their destination (London).Streamlined film-making on location, combined with the use of very talented untrained actors, makes the "movie" seem more like a well-done, dramatic documentary.
Michael Winterbottom's docudrama gives us a glimpse at what goes on behind the scenes when people try to emigrate to better their lives.
It is a wonder he was able to capture so candidly the world in which the would be immigrants live and what motivates them to leave a land where no opportunities exist.The father of Enayat was naive in thinking that because his son wanted to go to London, it was going to be an easy proposition.
They live in a primitive society but it is obvious that they realize there is a big world out there where one can make a living with better conditions.The film becomes a road movie about all the difficulties Jamal and Enayat encounter along the way.
In a camp in Peshawar, the father of Jamal and Enayatullah pays for his sons to leave the country and travel to London to start a new life.
However neither Jamal nor Enayatullah are prepared for the extra costs and the hardships they must endure on their way.When I heard about this film, I thought it was a proper documentary and I was a little disappointed to find out that, although the `cast' are real people, that this is actually a staged drama to reflect a true story.
With the level of hysteria around refugees at the minute, this film is going to be worth seeing despite it's flaws, it is important that the voiceless have a voice.On this issue I am not liberal - I believe that the UK should open their doors for people who's countries pose a danger to themselves either political or humanitarian.
Anyway, despite this the film still touched me because it is a human story at the end of the day - regardless of my political beliefs Jamal and Enayatullah are people and it is moving to see the sort of thing they (and thousands like them) go through.Of course this whole documentary/drama thing was a problem for it and it spoilt the delivery somewhat.
Though mind you, Grisoni also has the pointless `hide' on his cv, so he's a mixed one.The direction is as good as one would expect from a filmmaker who had access to a lot more in the way of resources than many other trying to make this film for real would have.
However the fact that it is a drama posing as a documentary means that the vast majority of the scenes feel staged and fake (which of course they are in the context of this film).
IT may possibly be both, but unfortunately it is not actually a great film.The plot centres around a young Afghan boy who accompanies his older cousin as his uncle organises to smuggle them to London.
We follow these boys through several countries and see how they travel and how the mechanics of people smuggling works.What we don't see is any real insight into the reasons behind the smuggling, nor any insight into the emotions of our protagonist (or any of the other refugees we meet along the way.)Instead we see scene after scene of trucks travelling down roads and boats sailing in waters when what we should be seeing is how these refugees are feeling and reacting to their predictament.
Who, indeed, are these people - i know as little about them at the end as I did in the beginning.A great deal of time passes in the film, but there is no sense of movement here.
What killed the people who got killed.It also suffers from trying to be both a documentary and a fiction film, falling somewhere slightly to the middle of both.
So again impact is lost.It is good to see refugees being portrayed onscreen, but this film felt more like a imitation of third world cinema (one which didn't know the people it represented very well) than groundbreaking new British film making.
Michael Winterbottom's In This World is a heart-breaking portrayal of Afghan refugees.
The film begins in a refugee camp of Pakistan.
Movie's documentary-like structure seems little bit uncomfortable in the beginning but once we get familiar with the characters and scenario, it's a great ride.
Based on the true story of two young Afghan refugees and their journey towards a best place on the earth for their better future.
This, documentary style adventure- drama of a British movie about illegal migrants from various refugee camps from middle-east chronicles as theirs lifetime voyage begins.
He managed to extract the best from the non-professional actors and made it a one of a best movie of all time about illegal human migration.Jamal and Enayat are two Afghan refugees from the camp located on the Pakistan border.
With all the hurdles would they reach their destination or not is the remaining tale to explode.We have heard many stories like this but this movie gives you a real experience with almost the realistic images in front of you.
His best films have fused dreamlike imagery - often drawing on Bergman and Kieslowski as primary influences - with an almost-documentary-like sense of time, place and character.
This façade of the real, which is a fictional account based on fact, is so successful that whenever a character died on screen, the people who I viewed the film with questioned whether or not Winterbottom was creating some kind of art-house snuff.
It works, Winterbottom, along with his cinematographer Marcel Zyskind, create some of the most beautiful images of contemporary British cinema.In this World is a film both moving and compassionate without ever feeling the need to rely on cloying sentiment or exposition-by-numbers.
Like the works of those individuals, this is important, intelligent, imaginative and above all else, serious film-making, which should be experienced by as many people as possible..
The film is a very great journey from Pakistan to the UK, and a very realistic portrayal based on true events of the things people will do just to find human freedom.
The film is a great representation of the hardships of life that refugees face.
The sometimes poor acting doesn't harm this film at all, it rather adds to the authenticity of the movie to make it able to experience it as a semi-documentary rather than as drama.
A very unique road movie, In This World is the story of two young illegal immigrants' clandestine trek from Peshawar to London.Too poor to fly, the sixteen year old Jamal and his older cousin Enayat, leave their native village in Pakistan to travel by land to England as illegal refugees.
Winterbottom unfortunately steers clear of the social/political sphere which makes In This World more of a travelogue of a refugee.
Though the migration of refugees has made good fodder for quite a few of the developing world's film industries.
It lacks the drama of a good fiction film, while being too contrived to be a documentary..
Two Afghan boys - played by non-professionals using their own names of Jamal and Enayatullah - are seen trying to fulfil their dream of a new life in London.
Filmed on digital video and using only available light with the characters mainly speaking their native Pashto, there is location shooting in Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Italy, France and Britain, so the whole thing looks and sounds like a documentary.This is bold film-making by director Michael Winterbottom that successfully engages our concern for economic refugees, but leaves one feeling saddened and powerless..
Presented as if it were a documentary, which would lead one to believe that the cinematographer (and possibly the director), stood idly by while some of the characters died of suffocation in transit aboard a sealed trailer, "In This World" would be more effective if it acknowledged openly that this was a work of fiction based on the realities faced by Afghan refugees trying to make their way from camps in Pakistan to the West -- in this case to London.
Michael Winterbottom's "In This World" follows two Afghan refugees, 16-year-old Jamal and older cousin Enayatullah, on their trek from Pakistan to England in search of "freedom" and a "better life".
Like Winterbottom's "The Road To Guantanamo", "World's" fiction but masquerades as a fly-on-the-wall documentary, the director using digital cameras, jagged editing and various cinema verite techniques to achieve a sense of unfolding reality.