By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Aki Kaurismäki
Starring: Dome Karukoski | Jörn Donner | Kati Outinen | Sakari Kuosmanen | Sherwan Haji | Tommi Corpela | Tommi Eronen | Ville Virtanen
Original language title: Toivon tuolla puolen
Country: finland, germany
Year: 2017
Running time: 100
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5222918/reference
Thom says: “Aki Kaurismäki has long been one of my TOP 10 Living Directors and this film richly adds to his glamorous acclaim. His top rated films include: CRIME & PUNISHMENT (1983), ARIEL (1988), THE MATCH FACTORY GIRL (1990), La Vie de Bohème (1992), SHADOWS IN PARADISE (1986), LIGHTS IN THE DUSK (2006), THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST (2002), LE HAVRE (2011), & LENINGRAD COWBOYS MEET MOSES (1994). I have missed some 5 earlier features due to hideous distribution in the United States. This brilliant effort most reminds me of HAIRSPRAY because 1) it is a musical of sorts, 2) it’s hilariously comic, & 3) it’s about a very serious social problem & topical at that. HAIRSPRAY was about integration, and the pressing need for its advancement. This film is about immigrants, in this case Syrians requesting entrance into Finland.
“Essentially the film is about a traveling salesman who quits his job, leaves his alcoholic wife, wins a huge amount of money in a poker game, buys a restaurant and supports the leading Syrian refugee (Khaled) even after he has been turned down by the Finnish authorities who tell him that Aleppo is safe to return home to even while a schoolhouse has been bombed there with the story all over the news. While Aki Kaurismäki never descends into goon show frivolity his sense of humor is both ribald & droll to the extreme. He doesn’t shy away from unpleasantries as a roving ensemble of thugs go around attacking immigrants. The director uses his usual steadfast acting group and they all work terrifically with their superior material. Sherwan Haji as Khaled in his very first film role, is especially outstanding. But his rejection by the Finnish government officials only shows, along with Trump’s embarrassing gaffe with his own border immigrants, while refugees are being rejected in England, in France, in Italy, & Germany and the problems are getting worse. Wasn’t America supposed to be the country that welcomed refugees fleeing oppressive regimes and political torture? Where has it gone so wrong? I love how Khaled literally crawls out of the mud at the beginning of this magnificent film.”