Sherwan Haji as Khaled in The Other Side of Hope

THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE
Directed by Aki Kaurismäki
Certificate 12a
☆☆☆☆

THE purely rational base instinct of fleeing danger is the starting point for this gentle Finnish film that tackles the plight of people escaping the war in Syria and hoping to find a safe haven in Europe.

Two stories run alongside each other and then meet gloriously half way. We meet Khaled (Sherwan Haji, pictured) as he emerges from the depths of a ship he has stowed away in. He is a refugee from the devastated Syrian city of Aleppo, and we learn he has reached Finland via Poland: after being attacked by Nazi skinheads in Gdansk, he jumped on a ship to escape.

Khaled heads straight to a police station to seek asylum – but the Finnish authorities seem to think there is nothing for him to fear in his devastated home town and therefore tell him he must fly to Ankara in Turkey and then be taken to the Syrian border. But as he watched the news, awaiting deportation, images of the bombs raining down on his native city show that it is not safe

Meanwhile, in Helsinki, we meet unhappy businessman Wikstrom (Sakari Kuosmanen) who has left his wife and, searching for a new life, buys a grotty restaurant with the takings from a poker game.

The pair meet by the restaurant’s dustbins. Khaled is hiding from authorities who say he must return to Syria as his home city is “safe”. And they strike up a relationship.

The humour running through the story comes in many forms. The absurdity of the human condition – the penchant for war and violence that helps no one is writ large, while visually, Finnish style adds another layer of interest.

Gently told, laced with humour, simple and effective, this is a sideways approach to considering the fate of the thousands of displaced people, what they have to face on a daily basis (poor Khaled has his fair share of vile right-wing racists to deal with, on top of the trauma of leaving a home behind and an uncertain future).

It makes his introduction into the daily life of the restaurant more heartwarming.

An original take on an issue that deserves alternative commentary, away from the opinion pieces, politicians using the crisis to win votes, and ideological stances that ignores the fact every “refugee” is simply another person like you or me, forced to act by forces way beyond their control. The Other Side Of Hope is timely and gracious storytelling.