cinegeek.de Our Daily Free Stream: Ich denke, Michael Winterbottom hat mit seinem phantastischen In This World eine notwendige moderne Interpretation der Odyssee geliefert. Eine Odyssee durch eine Welt, in der nichts mehr sicher scheint. Ein vierzehnjähriger verbringt vier Monate auf der Flucht, in Containern, Bussen, Schiffen. Auf dem Lastwagen nach Istanbul treffen Jamal und Enayatullah auf eine kurdische Familie. Sie haben ein Kind, Mehdi, das kaum laufen kann. Alle werden nun in einen Container verfrachtet - für 40 Stunden wie uns eine Einblendung erklärt. Tag und Nacht und Tag fahren sie bis nach Triest. Die Flüchtlinge schreien und hämmern gegen die Wände des Containers. Mehdi geht es sehr schlecht, hören wir. Schliesslich wird es still. Der Container wird in ein Lagerhaus gebracht und geöffnet: Sie sind tot, hören wir eine Stimme auf italienisch sagen. Dann aber schreit ein Kind. Es ist Mehdi und sie tragen ihn hinaus ins Freie. Michael Winterbottom hat keinen normalen Flüchtlingsfilm inszeniert. Er hätte dann die Geschichte um Mehdi herum bauen müssen, denn wer könnte einem Kind seine Sympathie verweigern? In This World aber wählt einen anderen Weg. Wir erleben die Geschichte von Jamal, vierzehn Jahre alt aus einem Lager in Pakistan. Ausser Mehdi überlebt nur Jamal die Fahrt im Container. Wir sehen ihn später am Ziel durch die Strassen Londons laufen. Er ist immer noch vierzehn, ohne aber wie ein kind zu wirken. Er hat den Blick eines Überlebenden. Später wird er zu Hause anrufen und durchgeben, dass sein Freund verstorben sei. Wir sehen das Gesicht eines Greises am anderen Ende der Leitung, wie es erstarrt. In This World ist an dieser Stelle zu Ende. Michael Winterbottom begann 2011 mit den Recherchen. Er erkannte, dass er für In This World auf vieles verzichten müsste, was normalerweise zu einem "richtigen" Film gehört: Statt eines Drehbuchs erleben wir improvisierte Dialoge, statt mit einer Kamera ist das Geschehen auf Mini DV aufgezeichnet, statt Schauspielern sehen wir Protagonisten von der Strasse. Der Film durchlebt so die Bedingungen der Flucht noch einmal: Den Staub auf den Strassen Pakistans, die glühende Hitze im Iran, die klirrende Kälte in den Bergen Ostanatoliens. Winterbottom und sein Team greifen auf die Erfahrungen ihrer Laiendarsteller zurück. Das, was wir im Film sehen, haben sie wirklich so erlebt. Heute lesen wir Forderungen, 350000 Flüchtlinge abzuschieben. Darunter das Bild eines feisten Politikers mit Ansatz zum Doppelkinn. Man möchte ihn zwingen, In This World zu sehen - draussen in den Bergen Ostanatoliens. (Wir stellen nicht den Film, nur den link zur Verfügung) (Bild: https://iwearsweaters.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/in_this_world_main.jpg

Remarkable immigrant drama of a long journey to the promised land

In This World written by Tony Grisoni and directed by British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom. The film won the Golden Bear prize at the 2003 Berlin International Film Festival. Non-actors Jamal Udin Torabi and Enayatullah. Set in February 2002 - Enayat and Jamal are two Afghan teenager cousins in refugee camps in Peshawar (capital/largest city of Khyber Pakhtoonwa Pakistan). Enayat's father wants to send him to London for better future after the U.S. bombed Afghanistan, in October 2001. Enayat is weak at English, so young Jamal is to accompany him, who speaks broken English. They have handed out cash in Dollar, Rupees, Rial to smugglers at Quetta (capital/largest city of Balochistan Pakistan). They are handpicked by Toyota pickups in shabby condition and arrive in Tehran, from where they are caught and sent back to Quetta. Enayat re-bribes same guy and this time they arrive safe in Iran, but while attempting to enter Tehran at midnight, the aerial gun-fires by security forces them to opt for Turkey from mountains. They arrive safe into Turkey, and work for weeks at a small factory, managed by smugglers. All of the sudden, they are locked in container, and shipped to Italy - in which Enayat dies of suffocation and lack of fresh-air along with Iranian couple who were heading for Denmark. Jamal now alone, hawks newspaper in Italy. After stealing some money, he buys a ticket to Paris. He reaches at notorious Sangatte refugee camp of Kurds, Afghans, Iranians, where he meets another teenager- together the two sneak under lorry and reach London via English Channel rout. Estimated number of Afghan refugees exceeds more than one million inside Pakistan. More than 0.5 million Afghans head for Karachi which attracts vast majority of people due to being largest city and full of swing. Many Afghans have illegally acquired Pakistani National Identity Cards, and refuse to go back to Afghanistan (neither is Pakistan government willing to send them back - in cunning attempt to keep receiving billions of dollars from international community in the name of refugees - of which not a single penny is spent). Quetta is hub of smuggling between Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Many Pakistanis smuggle electronics appliances and dry-fruit that is least expensive in Iran. Pakistanis who illegally try to cross into Dubai or Saudi Arabia or Kuwait, opt for Iran as route. Iranian security-forces at border are far vicious in suppressing this by launching rockets occasionally. This, they do in fear that Sunni Muslims might align with Sunni resistance inside Iran. Only, two days ago Iranian forces launched two rockets which killed a Pakistani village girl. This film doesn't come without claustrophobic experience that of being locked inside container for more than 40-hours. Excellent filming, and emotional journey that starts pleasantly and offers us ups and downs, heart-piercing moments. Michael follows the real kids and uses exact same places which were part of planned-travel - including security and police forces. Every emotional moment here grows trust in Michael's work watching the documentary. I recalled the similar vision about Danny Boyale behind-the-camera filming of Slumdog Millionaire. Deluxe Color widescreen DV-to-35mm camera was used for filming. It is always a difficult and usually illegal path to arrive in Dubai, Kuwait or Iran. It costs around US $50 to reach Iran via bus or train. Smugglers inside Pakistan, who work in disguise of travel agents, deceive people to bring them to Dubai via similar routes - costing around $300 as compared to $600-700 via proper or legal means (subject to kind of types of visa - labor visa is most difficult to get for any country especially for Pakistanis) - furthermore, since they refuse to return back and already embarking on living illegally there, why trouble spending expensively on legal and proper documents. Those who believe that, it is time to head back to home, they voluntarily show up at their embassy in host country, or get themselves caught by the police who deport them in next flight to home (saving them of travel-fairs and documents needed).

Loved this for the most part, but it fell into a bit of cheap manipulation in the last act and never really recovered. Too bad, everything leading up to that was pretty much perfect.

Absolutely beautiful, love how they made it so dramatic and yet, it tries to imitate the illegal immigrant life as much as possible.

Its a decent film, and an important one, but I found it skitted around the real serious issues in question. Too safe and 'controlled' for my liking. I was hoping for it would be grittier and the subject more exposed.

Domiciliati in un campo profughi pakistano a Peshawar, dopo la fine del conflitto in Afghanistan due cugini, con l'aiuto dei parenti, decidono di partire alla ricerca di un futuro migliore. Attraverso Iran, Turchia e Italia i due viaggiano a ritroso lungo quella che un tempo veniva definita 'la via della seta' nascosti nella ribalta di un tir o all'interno di un container, fra minacce e condizioni di vita impossibili. Alla fine riusciranno comunque a raggiungere la destinazione finale del loro viaggio: Londra, in Inghilterra. [cinematografo.it]

i love the movie i was searching for it since it realese..jamal was our neighbour nd her mom was my mom best frnd i know the kid preety well some how jamal own life story beside in this more truth less fictiouness film is more interesting to me than his journey in film in pursuition of a better life in london..

It doesn't have the straghtforward narrative of Sin Nombre but it's no less gripping. Beautiful and harrowing.

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. Relatives of the two brothers give all they can to send them on their way; 'agents' of migration variously help and hinder their journey; policemen fleece them at the border crossings. 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. The early stages of the journey reveal the stunning emptiness of Central Asian landscapes, with vast plains stretching out towards impossibly far-off mountains. The journey across Asia reveals some very different - and occasionally alarming - road usage, whilst the briefest of pauses in rural Iran captures a little of the traditions involved in welcoming and sending-off guests. Among the most striking asides in this film for me is the footage of a cow being slaughtered by the halal method; just a few eye-opening moments are afforded to this episode. The film is, for all these fascinating glimpses, tightly woven around the story of Jemal and Enayat. The portrayal of their difficulties and sufferings is devastatingly powerful; the jerky, panic-stricken footage at the Turkish border and the dark and claustrophobic nightmare of the shipping container remain long and vivid in the memory. 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. These elements seem to me to jar with the rest of the film; there is no real need to add them to an otherwise immersive and realistic picture. On the other hand, whilst the musical score by Dario Marianelli seems jarring to begin with, it soon becomes an essential part of the film: a theme to match an exhaustingly emotional experience as we watch the migrants on their journey.

I'm deeply impressed. This one makes you think about (illegal) immigration and to what lengths people have to go for to have better lives. :o

Revealing, studied window into people migration from Pakistan to the UK. Humbling sacrifice at every turn gets you routing for the leads and challenges you to question your views on immigration.

This is a very important movie and its all truth!

very sad. great music, acting and use of documentary techniques. blurs the line between fact and fiction, very convincing!

well, it is an interesting story. i like the idea how the real people and real locations are used to show what exactly had happened. it is hard to travel from afganistan to london as a refugee, but that is not something we already didn't know. this film is just about that. there is no plot, no real story. i would have rather seen this story shown as a documentary and not as a fiction film. because it was fiction, neither the realistic filming techniques nor the locations made it engaging, and even hard to identify with the characters. i was actually quite bored and not even moved. sad story ideed, and the whole idea is also very touching, makes one wonder about world globalisation and its effects on middle east and the west. but this is still fiction and that's where it fails. nice try though. still what a journey. and for what? so that u could get caught and be deported. i guess it's still worth trying, right?

If only every refugee was a loveable, street wise boy and a slow witted, sweet heart like his cousin. If anything, the movie only proves just how easy it must be for someone with the worst of intentions to get into any major country and do some damage. The making of the movie would probably make a pretty good movie too. All those places are real.

Amazing, shocking movie. A true human document. But it is merely representative of the many such stories that happen every day in this cruel exploitative business of people smuggling. Must-see.

Fantastisk film. Historien om två afghanska kusiner på flykt från Peshawar, Pakistan till London. Realistiskt och gripande.

I have not seen a film quite like this before. It follows the journey of two guys trying to flee as refugees to the UK. This is difficult to watch at times but I'm sure a very realistic account, maybe that's what makes to so unsettling.

A harrowing story indeed. Really gripping. Another superb docu-drama by Michael Winterbottom.