To a Land Unknown depicts a powerfully advised story. Directed by Mahdi Fleifel, from a screenplay by him, Fyzal Boulifa, and Jason McColgan, To a Land Unknown, which premiered on the 2024 Cannes Movie Competition, is a strong blur between a documentary and a drama advised with easy precision.
To a Land Unknown follows Chatila (Mahmood Bakri) and Reda (Aram Sabbah), cousins and Palestinian refugees dwelling in poverty in Athens and breaking the legislation to earn sufficient cash to maneuver to Germany and reunite with Chatila’s spouse and baby, who’re dwelling in a Lebanese refugee camp. After a number of setbacks, they hatch a determined, difficult plan to flee their purgatory.
To A Land Unknown Offers With Questions Of Morality, However Is Crammed With Empathy
Chatila & Reda Face Dire Circumstances & Will Do Something To Get Out
To a Land Unknown depicts a sequence of objectively ethically questionable deeds and pierces you with how affordable most of it appears, and the way shortly it spirals uncontrolled. In no small half, that is due to the gifted lead actors, who floor the story in people who find themselves realistically pissed off and determined.
Each lead actors are turbulent but constant.
Chatila has a number of touching cellphone calls along with his spouse — the actress on the opposite finish of the cellphone can also be nice — which firmly establishes the stakes for him. Why would not he steal a handbag or trick a lonely lady into serving to him if it meant getting again to his household?
Each Bakri and Sabbah are turbulent but constant. Chatila is forcing himself to stay level-headed, adjusting the plan and sustaining his religion within the dream of opening a café in Berlin. Reda, a drug addict and occasional intercourse employee, needs badly to be a great individual, however is cornered into extra duplicitous decisions by circumstance.
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There may be additionally Angeliki Papoulia as Tatiana, whom Chatila convinces to assist them smuggle out Malik (Mohammad Alsurafa), a younger boy who has fled Gaza and is making an attempt to get to his aunt in Italy. These 4 characters’ interactions authentically and casually counsel a need for consolation and connection, forged in a shadow by their ulterior motives.
As in actual life, there may be not a lot of a dramatic, neatly resolved ending for anybody. An enormous part of To a Land Unknown is the theme of displacement. A quote from Edward Mentioned in the beginning of the movie and a personality reciting the poem “The Masks Has Fallen” in the direction of the top elevate this theme.
The Director’s Technical Decisions Underscore The Characters’ Struggles
To a Land Unknown was shot on 16mm movie, doubtlessly why it feels just a bit extra down-to-Earth. There are a number of meticulously chosen cinematography and enhancing decisions which, although maybe fundamental in technical execution, drive dwelling the purpose of a given scene completely, whether or not emphasizing the setting, dialogue, or state of affairs.
To a Land Unknown is a grainy, nearly documentary that elegiacally exhibits us a actuality the place issues can escalate shortly, with some quiet philosophical ponderings.
Mahdi Fleifel additionally does a formidable job of showcasing Athens, specializing in essentially the most run-down elements of it, or the transient freedom of being above all of it when trying down from a mountaintop. Because the characters touch upon the individuals who inhabit this metropolis, To a Land Unknown deftly continues to color its image of a metropolis that’s hopefully solely a stopover.
Fleifel is understood for his documentary work, akin to 2012’s A World Not Ours, and brief movies specializing in the experiences of Palestinian refugees — To a Land Unknown‘s affect in that regard is deeply felt. The filmmaker was reportedly additionally wanting to do one thing completely different from his previous work with the thriller points of the movie’s plot (through Selection), although these points, whereas good, have been over-advertised.
To a Land Unknown is a grainy, nearly documentary that elegiacally exhibits us a actuality the place issues can escalate shortly, peppered with some quiet philosophical ponderings. It’s targeted on its small-scale story about the primary characters who’re burdened by ache and dead-ends, however fastidiously works within the broader injustices it needs the viewers to see.
To a Land Unknown
9/10
- Launch Date
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July 11, 2025
- Runtime
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106 minutes
- Director
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Mahdi Fleifel
- Writers
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Mahdi Fleifel, Jason McColgan, Fyzal Boulifa
- Producers
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Maarten van der Ven, Layla Meijman
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Angeliki Papoulia
Tatiana
- The 2 lead actors are unbelievable at expressing the emotional stakes and inside turmoil of their characters
- Simple technical decisions, together with being excellently shot on 16 mm movie, emphasizes the core themes
- A powerful-small scale fastidiously located inside larger social and political contexts
- A slower watch; the thriller points of this film have been over-advertised