Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Writers: Mahdi Fleifel, Fyzal Boulifa, Jason McColgan
Stars: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Angeliki Papoulia
Synopsis: A Palestinian refugee living on the fringes of society in Athens hustles and schemes his way to get out of this limbo by any means necessary.
Bureaucracy doesn’t serve the people. It serves the state. The paperwork, endless meetings, legal proceedings, more paperwork, and denials are meant to get you to give up. They, the state, don’t want you to have what you need even though they ostensibly supply it through their process. The ambiguity of the system is what keeps the system alive and the people from advancing.
This is where we find Chatila (Mahmoud Bakri) and many people in his circle. They have become people without a country because the legal means for getting from where they were to where they want to go is not fast or fair enough. These refugees get stuck in a sort of purgatory where their morality and humanity is tested.
The script for To a Land Unknown, written by Mahdi Fleifel (who also directed), Fyzal Boulifa, and Jason McColgan, depicts a constant state of waiting. The tale is Sisyphean in the constant struggles the characters face. As Chatila and his friend Reda (Aram Sabbah) feel like they have the scheme to get them ahead, the scheme that will finally get them out of Athens, something sets them back. Their schemes, no matter the nobility of the final goal, test their moral fortitude and bend their sense of human decency. These are good people in a bad situation, who have in turn become bad people by trying to better their situation.
The story, in some ways, evokes John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.” Chatila, the brains, is trying to keep Reda, the meek, from screwing up their plans. There is even a very similar scene between the two stories when Reda asks Chatila to describe the restaurant they’re going to open just as simple Lennie begs shrewd George to tell him of the farm the two of them will one day have.
Yet, it’s reductive to think of Reda as simple as Lennie. He’s more world weary than Chatila, having been through this type of purgatory before. He’s been dragged back here by Chatila’s optimism and drive. His good nature is being tainted by the things he must do to survive and the things Chatila schemes to get them closer to his goal of Germany. Reda says in so many words, time and time again that this isn’t what he wants. He asks Chatila time and again what he will even do at the restaurant to contribute in a meaningful way. Every step he takes toward Chatila’s dream is a step away from himself.
This is where Mahdi Fleifel excels as a director. He and cinematographer Thodoros Mihopoulos have set up shots where the men walk with purpose toward the camera as the camera moves backward. It’s as if the camera is their goal, just out of reach as it moves away. This is never more focused then as Reda makes a decision about a pair of shoes he promised to fellow refugee, Yasser (Mohammad Ghassan). Reda spies the store out of the corner of his eye as the camera stops with him. He tells Malik (Mohammad Alsurafa), a lone boy he and Chatila have been mentoring, to wait for him in the park. We don’t enter into the shop with Reda, but we see the interaction with the clerk from outside. As soon as he’s given the box of shoes, Reda bolts. He runs as if chasing the camera and looks as if this act has once again set him further back than having brought him ahead like he wanted. His chase is futile because his true goal of contentment and security will always be out of his reach.
These scenes of desperation, frustration, and anguish simply would not work without the great talents of Mahmoud Bakri and Aram Sabbah. The fiery passion that Bakri brings to Chatila is matched by his skill with Chatila’s more tender moments of deep thought. The anguish of Reda would not be as poignant if it weren’t for the expressive face of Sabbah. The two of them play off each other brilliantly and create a pair that is easily understood as needing to be together and in need of a separation because their codependence will bring them both down.
To a Land Unknown is almost like a bottle. The cork of legality is firmly stuck over the heads of Chatila and Reda. They can try and chip at the cork or break through the bottle, but neither option is as easy as they hope. The film is about the hustle and the humanity lost in surviving in between trying to live a better life. It’s a beautiful meditation on friendship and a stark reminder of the tremendous lengths people will go to get out of a dire situation.
