{"id":6331,"date":"2024-10-20T01:14:55","date_gmt":"2024-10-20T05:14:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=6331"},"modified":"2024-10-20T01:15:19","modified_gmt":"2024-10-20T05:15:19","slug":"flee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/20\/flee\/","title":{"rendered":"Flee"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Flee <\/strong>(2021)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Neon\/Documentary\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 90 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (thematic content, disturbing images, strong language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Jonas Poher Rasmussen and Amin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Uno Helmersson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Mauricio Gonzalez-Aranda\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 3, 2021 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Amin Nawabi, Daniel Karimyar, Fardin Mijdzadeh.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Spoken in Danish, Dari and Russian w\/English subtitles<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0I never expected to be so moved by Flee<\/strong>, an animated documentary about an Afghan refugee confronting his past and sharing his story for the first time. The thrice-nominated film has already made its mark on cinematic history by becoming the first to be nominated for Best International Feature, Best Documentary and Best Animated Feature simultaneously. I can see it winning at least one of those Oscars, Best Documentary most likely.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The protagonist of Flee<\/strong> calls himself \u201cAmin Nawabi\u201d, but that\u2019s not his real name. It\u2019s an alias to protect his true identity. His animated image has been altered and some details have been changed as well. It\u2019s likely his life would be in jeopardy if his real identity was known. It\u2019s a testament to his bravery that he\u2019s willing to tell his story despite his fears of retaliation by the government of the country from which he fled as a young boy. It\u2019s not just that he left Afghanistan illegally. Amin also happens to be gay which is considered taboo in his culture. It\u2019s an aspect of himself that he even keeps hidden from his family. His inability to openly admit his sexuality affects his relationship with his partner Kaspar. Their impending marriage is the main reason he decides to finally to talk about his past.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Amin tells his story not to Kaspar, but to director Jonas Poher Rasmussen who he met on a bus in Denmark when they were teens in the 90s. Jonas starts out by asking Amin what \u201chome\u201d means to him. Amin replies, \u201cHome is somewhere safe.\u201d Then he closes his eyes and takes us back to his childhood in Afghanistan around the time of the Soviet withdrawal and subsequent hostile takeover by the Mujahideen.<\/p>\n

\u00a0His memories are fragmented and obscured due to trauma and repression. His father was taken to prison by Mujahideen soldiers and disappeared a few months later. His remaining family- mother, brother and two sisters- escape to Russia where they live in constant fear of being sent back. They also have to deal with corrupt police who regularly shake down illegal immigrants. He and his family\u2019s first attempt to escape to freedom via human traffickers ends in a long stint in a squalid asylum center in Estonia. They\u2019re sent back to Russia where it\u2019s then decided that Amin should go it alone. This time, it\u2019s a success. He ends up in Denmark where he starts a new life while still haunted by the memories of his old one.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Rasmussen makes excellent use of the short running time (90 minutes) by filling Flee<\/strong> with many unforgettable images. One of the earliest is 9YO Amin dancing through the streets of his village wearing his sister\u2019s nightgown while listening to A-Ha\u2019s \u201cTake on Me\u201d on a pink Walkman. He imbues many of the images with a palpable sense of claustrophobia. You can practically feel a panic attack coming on when Amin is confined to a shipping container with several other refugees en route to Estonia. In Russia, he\u2019s trapped in a depressing apartment with his brother and mother, their only solace being a Mexican telenovela on TV. The sight of a young female immigrant in the back of a police van gives off an uncomfortable vibe as it\u2019s obvious she\u2019s about to be violated by the cops. Not all of Flee<\/strong> is such a nightmare. There\u2019s a sweet moment just after Amin finally comes out to his siblings. I won\u2019t describe it; you\u2019ll know it when it happens.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Flee<\/strong> also takes the time to show how Amin\u2019s past trauma affects his present, his relationship with Kaspar in particular. He\u2019s reluctant to commit to buying a house in the country with him. He claims his work on his doctorate will keep him away for months at a time, but deep down it\u2019s more than that. He\u2019s scared of being hurt. Rasmussen handles this with great care, never once using it to make some grand statement about being gay. It\u2019s only one facet of Amin\u2019s character.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The animation in Flee<\/strong> is exquisite. Animator Kenneth Ladekjaer beautifully captures all the details of Amin; the way he moves, gestures and speaks. It\u2019s hand-drawn which makes it especially beautiful. It\u2019s beautiful even when showing something ugly or frightening. This was clearly the right way for Rasmussen to go as I would have been impossible to effectively recreate the more harrowing events in Amin\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Flee<\/strong> is an outstanding film. It\u2019s consistently compelling and connects strongly with the viewer on an emotional level. It\u2019s also visceral in terms of imagery. It works on every level. Most importantly, Amin is a sympathetic and relatable person. We feel for him as he tells his life story. It never sounds like he\u2019s looking for pity either. All he wants is understanding. Isn\u2019t that what we all want? In opening up to his friend and (by proxy) all of us, he\u2019s made that difficult first step towards healing. Good luck to him.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Flee (2021)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Neon\/Documentary\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 90 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (thematic content, disturbing images, strong language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Jonas Poher Rasmussen and Amin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Uno Helmersson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Mauricio Gonzalez-Aranda\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 3, 2021 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Amin Nawabi, Daniel Karimyar, Fardin Mijdzadeh.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Spoken in Danish, Dari and Russian w\/English subtitles Rating: **** \u00a0I never […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animation","category-documentary"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Flee-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6331"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6550,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6331\/revisions\/6550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}