(only contains spoilers of a general kind)
Disturbing, intense and creepy, this film at one level is a fairly straightforward story of a man who travels to his father's homeland and discovers the skeletons in the closet. Ewen Leslie as the haunted son Isaac seeking to lay the ghost of his dad Vasili in the mountains of Greece, Martin Csokas as his corrupted brother Nico and Kodi Smit-McPhee as the face of all refugee boys everywhere all do a fine job, the cinematography, score and directing work together well to create a menacing and disorienting view of the seedier side of Europe.
At another level, this film explores the moral complexities of the refugee crisis. The curse that seems to follow Vasili's family can be interpreted as the guilt that lurks behind every decision to turn your back on another human being in desperate straits. And how easy it is to do that, given their overwhelming need, their anonymity, their foreignness, and the sometimes bald ugliness of their desperation. This film takes you unflinchingly into the heart of this "blackness" that consumed the soul of Vasili and eventually his sons, it slaps you unapologetically in the face with it. Vasili himself is a refugee, fleeing the devastation of post war Greece to Australia. Perhaps there's no guilt like that of a refugee who has left others to perish.
There's no light at the end of this film, which I think is particularly fitting because there is no easy answer to the desperation of the millions fleeing to Europe and scraping an existence in the decrepit slums and alleys of the grand old cities. Just as it has for thousands of years, the situation fosters prejudice, exploitation and cruelty on all sides. You will appreciate this film, if not enjoy it, if you are interested in what is, and always has been, one of the greatest social, moral and even spiritual challenges to the illusions of our comfortable and sheltered lives.
Disturbing, intense and creepy, this film at one level is a fairly straightforward story of a man who travels to his father's homeland and discovers the skeletons in the closet. Ewen Leslie as the haunted son Isaac seeking to lay the ghost of his dad Vasili in the mountains of Greece, Martin Csokas as his corrupted brother Nico and Kodi Smit-McPhee as the face of all refugee boys everywhere all do a fine job, the cinematography, score and directing work together well to create a menacing and disorienting view of the seedier side of Europe.
At another level, this film explores the moral complexities of the refugee crisis. The curse that seems to follow Vasili's family can be interpreted as the guilt that lurks behind every decision to turn your back on another human being in desperate straits. And how easy it is to do that, given their overwhelming need, their anonymity, their foreignness, and the sometimes bald ugliness of their desperation. This film takes you unflinchingly into the heart of this "blackness" that consumed the soul of Vasili and eventually his sons, it slaps you unapologetically in the face with it. Vasili himself is a refugee, fleeing the devastation of post war Greece to Australia. Perhaps there's no guilt like that of a refugee who has left others to perish.
There's no light at the end of this film, which I think is particularly fitting because there is no easy answer to the desperation of the millions fleeing to Europe and scraping an existence in the decrepit slums and alleys of the grand old cities. Just as it has for thousands of years, the situation fosters prejudice, exploitation and cruelty on all sides. You will appreciate this film, if not enjoy it, if you are interested in what is, and always has been, one of the greatest social, moral and even spiritual challenges to the illusions of our comfortable and sheltered lives.