The Other Side of Hope: Film Reviews from the Curaçao Film Festival #ciffr

The Other Side of Hope, a film from Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki about a Syrian immigrant in Finland and officially labeled a comedy (more on that below), was the opening film for the Curaçao film festival on Wednesday April 5th. When we were making our selections for the festival, I marked this one as a must-see: immigration, especially from Syria, has taken a prominent role in news and debates worldwide, and after my dushi spewed a few anti-immigration sentiments (on which I swooped down like a rapacious bird of prey, no mercy, no quarter, until I saw a dawning light of reason in his eyes), I thought a story such as this one might help elucidate some of the finer points in the refugee-crisis dispute.

Opening nights at the film festival are always fun. Plenty of people show up dressed to the nines: women in glittery makeup, glittery shoes, glittery clothes; men in not-quite-so-glittery blazers and even ties. We, of course, wore our standard-issue jeans and flip-flops, and carried bulky sweaters to brave the gelid air conditioning in the theater. We weren't alone; one of the most salient points of beauty and wonder here in Curaçao, at least for me, is the fact that no one really cares what other people wear. Having grown up in Mexico, and especially in Cuernavaca, the kind of place where other people's clothes (and cars, and houses, and jobs, and children, and parents, and friends, and...) take up a good chunk of the collective consciousness, you can imagine how refreshing Curaçao's live and let live attitude feels to me. I find it enchanting to see a woman in shantung and diamonds in earnest conversation with one in dreads and cut-off jeans. No sneaky up-and-down glances, no secret smirks of disapproval or even judgment. None.

Beyond that particular cultural quirk, festival opening night is also fun because the director of the festival is there to not just introduce the opening film but also to give a short speech that sets the tone for the entire event. This year he spoke eloquently on the issue of immigration and refugees, on war and tragedy and the empathy the world needs to — must, really — exercise in order to heal, and in condemnation of intolerance in all senses and ways.

Which left us all primed for a wonderful, wonderful film.

But there was more to come. The actor who plays the Syrian immigrant, Sherwan Haji, was there in person to introduce the film, too. Turns out he is from Syria himself, and, just like the character he plays, he emigrated to Finland. Although he emigrated legally and not as a refugee, his history clearly brought a deeper dimension to the character of Khaled, and hearing him speak of the production, the bringing to life of this refugee alter-ego, as well as the conflict now ravaging his homeland, was a powerful experience.

Given the seriousness of the subject, and in spite of the "comedy" label, I truly was expecting a serious film. It's not cluelessness (well, it is, but not just); rather, I think I'm somewhat biased against comedy as a genre, and the reviews on this one were absolutely raving. So I simply assumed...

What we got was, yes, a film chock-full of humor of the finest, most subtle kind. Not cynical, not satyrical (well, mostly not), not dumbed-down, not over-the-top, not vulgar, not... well, none of the things that turn me off comedy, really. And yet it is laugh-out-loud funny. Up until the end, that is. I walked out of the theater in tears, and they weren't happy tears. And that, right there, is the core of the success of this film: it portrays the drama of immigration in all its absurdity (the xenophobia, the bureaucracy, the dreams, the sheer helplessness of being at the mercy of an alien culture and its laws), and in all its tragedy. And the reason the tragedy feels so real—palpable, personal—is precisely because it is couched in this seemingly light-hearted envelope. The absurdity (and the hilarity it entails) adds, finally, to the tragedy. And the tragedy takes on a wholly new dimension because of the vehicle of comedy it's delivered in.

It is a masterful achievement. Then again, Kaurismäki has spoiled us to expect nothing less.

If you want to read more about the film, this Guardian review hits pretty much the same context as my take, and it includes more details of the story itself.