★★★★
OUT 18 MARCH/ CERT TBC / 72 MINS DIRECTOR Haider Rashid CAST Adam Ali, Svetlana Yancheva, Erfan Rashid, Mohamed Zouaoui
Based on genuine ‘Balkan route’ testimony, Iraqi-Italian Haider Rashid’s third feature is an innovative, immersive insight into the migration crisis. Opening credits exposing collusion between border guards, state governments and nationalist ‘migrant hunters’ pitch the viewer into the ordeal that befalls an Iraqi refugee on the Turkish-Bulgarian frontier. Barely a word is spoken, but Rashid fixes on Kamal in tight close-ups that highlight his isolation and vulnerability and make his encounters with corpses, gunmen, motorists and householders all the more disorientatingly tense. Mancunian Adam Ali is exceptional, as he strives to retain his humanity in the face of pitiless xenophobic depravity.