To a Land Unknown

“Chatila” (Mahmoud Bakri) and his cousin “Reda” (Aram Sabbah) are Palestinian refugees grifting in Athens trying to raise the cash to pay for some fake passports that will get them into Germany, where they hope to set up a family-run café. They engage in some petty larceny and the latter man turns a few tricks in the local park. With their goal in sight, though, “Reda” uses some of their stash to buy drugs from the untrustworthy “Abu Love” (Mouataz Alshaltouh) which causes friction between the pair but also inspires “Chatila” to concoct quite a cunning plan. They’ve befriended the young “Malik” (Mohammad Alsurata) whose aunt lives in Italy and so relying on new-found friend “Tatiana” (Angeliki Papoulia) - who actually has a valid ID card, they hope to provide their own people smuggling service to fund their own journey. This doesn’t quite go to plan, but suggests another - more hands on approach. With tensions mounting on the men and with “Reda” struggling to deal with the pressures of his drug addiction, is there any way for these two to make it to their dream land? Initially, there’s something of the loveable rogues about these two men as they try to accrue the money they need. They look after each other and even take the young lad under their wing. That changes, though, as their sense of desperation starts to grow. Pressure from families at home start to mount; both men realise that this is a process riddled with crookedness and untrustworthy people and surely it’s only a matter of time before the authorities cotton on. It’s that sense of tension that’s engagingly captured here by two actors who charismatically present flawed characters that even at their most devious, it’s hard not to sympathise with. It’s a testament to desperate times calling for desperate measures and uses a rather innovative narrative to illustrate the plight of illegal immigrants; of their ingenuity at finding ways around security arrangements and of just how perilous this whole process could be. There are plot holes, and some of the film doesn’t quite add up, but the gist provides for a point that’s well made and provides us with quite an human story of brotherhood  that’s not without elements of plausible tragedy too.

Feb 19, 2025