FLEE
****
Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Screenwriters: Jonas Poher Rasmussen and Amin Nawabi
Country: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, USA, Spain, Italy and UK
Classification: M
Runtime: 89 mins.
Australian release date: 17 February 2022.
Only very rarely does something completely new come along in the world of cinema and Flee marks one of those rare events. Whereas we’ve had animated dramatic movies for years, and documentaries have often utilised animation to fill in the parts where there is no factual footage of an event, Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s film is the first time I can think of that an entire documentary has been animated - it’s certainly the first one that has been so acclaimed. Okay, there are a couple of very brief passages of archival images, but they are fleeting. Anyway, Flee is such an extraordinary film that is has been nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Documentary Feature, Best Animated Feature Film and Best International Feature Film. It’s also been nominated for two BAFTAs and already won over 60 festival and critics’ awards internationally. In other words, it’s a massive hit… and it deserves to be.
Flee is the story of Amin Nawabi (not his real name), an Afghan who fled his birth country as a boy in 1989, heading for Moscow. What happened after that is a shocking story, though one common to many refugees seeking a better life in the West, but the boy eventually succeeded in getting to Denmark. Rasmussen met him in the 1990s in Copenhagen and they became friends. Later, when Rasmussen began to make radio documentaries, he approached Amin to talk about the Afghan’s backstory but it was too painful for him to recount and he wasn’t ready to tell it. When Rasmussen came up with the idea of animating his traumatic tale, thus giving him anonymity, Amin decided it was time to unburden himself. To write the screenplay, the director interviewed him over a period of several years and, together, they crafted the heartbreaking story. These interviews form part of Flee and we see and hear the animated Rasmussen questioning an animated Amin. It’s a fascinating technique and it works well.
Rasmussen’s documentary asks the question, “What is home?” and the process of creating the film provided the answer. He explains, “So many people in the world are looking for a place to call home, and Amin’s been trying to do that for his entire life. As someone who is always moving from one place to another and never feeling rooted in one spot, I realised during the making of this film that he still didn’t have a home. He was somehow still on the run. But finally, being able to open up and telling his full story made him come to terms with his past, the guilt over the sacrifices his family had to do for Amin to have a good life. Alongside the process with the long interviews during the years the filmmaking – Amin realises he was ready to settle down. He could live with the traumas of his past, and be at peace in the present, a whole person.” That’s the power of Flee.
Screenwriters: Jonas Poher Rasmussen and Amin Nawabi
Country: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, USA, Spain, Italy and UK
Classification: M
Runtime: 89 mins.
Australian release date: 17 February 2022.
Only very rarely does something completely new come along in the world of cinema and Flee marks one of those rare events. Whereas we’ve had animated dramatic movies for years, and documentaries have often utilised animation to fill in the parts where there is no factual footage of an event, Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s film is the first time I can think of that an entire documentary has been animated - it’s certainly the first one that has been so acclaimed. Okay, there are a couple of very brief passages of archival images, but they are fleeting. Anyway, Flee is such an extraordinary film that is has been nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Documentary Feature, Best Animated Feature Film and Best International Feature Film. It’s also been nominated for two BAFTAs and already won over 60 festival and critics’ awards internationally. In other words, it’s a massive hit… and it deserves to be.
Flee is the story of Amin Nawabi (not his real name), an Afghan who fled his birth country as a boy in 1989, heading for Moscow. What happened after that is a shocking story, though one common to many refugees seeking a better life in the West, but the boy eventually succeeded in getting to Denmark. Rasmussen met him in the 1990s in Copenhagen and they became friends. Later, when Rasmussen began to make radio documentaries, he approached Amin to talk about the Afghan’s backstory but it was too painful for him to recount and he wasn’t ready to tell it. When Rasmussen came up with the idea of animating his traumatic tale, thus giving him anonymity, Amin decided it was time to unburden himself. To write the screenplay, the director interviewed him over a period of several years and, together, they crafted the heartbreaking story. These interviews form part of Flee and we see and hear the animated Rasmussen questioning an animated Amin. It’s a fascinating technique and it works well.
Rasmussen’s documentary asks the question, “What is home?” and the process of creating the film provided the answer. He explains, “So many people in the world are looking for a place to call home, and Amin’s been trying to do that for his entire life. As someone who is always moving from one place to another and never feeling rooted in one spot, I realised during the making of this film that he still didn’t have a home. He was somehow still on the run. But finally, being able to open up and telling his full story made him come to terms with his past, the guilt over the sacrifices his family had to do for Amin to have a good life. Alongside the process with the long interviews during the years the filmmaking – Amin realises he was ready to settle down. He could live with the traumas of his past, and be at peace in the present, a whole person.” That’s the power of Flee.