Category: Reading Responses (Page 5 of 10)

Throughout the documentary Flee, film director Jonas Poher Ramussen draws a contrast between a factual story narrated by Amin Nawabi on his experience of being displaced from his homeland with his family, and a fabricated story that details a narrative that would allow him to be accepted as a refugee.  

Ramussen makes a stylistic choice as a director to allow the viewer to believe this fabricated story that Nawabi tells to draw sympathy for the protagonist early on. As he opens the book found in his storage room, Nawabi tells the viewer that once the Islamic guerilla fighters known as the “Mujaheddin” took over Afghanistan, they had killed his father, mother, brother, and kidnapped his sister. 

 This narrative played out until the true story was revealed on how his family made it to Moscow with the help of his older brother that lived in Sweden. Although this alteration of facts or details in his journey slightly changed my impression of his experience, both stories were purposeful in their own way. Although the fabricated story of being an orphan misled me as a viewer, it functioned as a standard that was eligible to earn him refuge in Copenhagen. Furthermore, just because this story was fabricated, it does not in any means depreciate the value that can be gained from the actual experiences that Nawabi went through. If anything, as a viewer I was more emotionally moved about how Nawabi detailed the many attempts it took to finally get him to Sweden.

Specifically, the sequence that moved me and had me replay the scene a few times was during Nawabi’s failed journey to Sweden with his mom and brother. During the bleak and frigid walk of the displaced refugees through the snowy woods of Russia, an elderly woman had grown weary and physically could not continue the walking path alongside her son. Under a time constraint, the cold-blooded smuggler threatened to kill the elder or leave her behind because she was slowing down the group of refugees. In an instant, as if it were instinctual, three more men of the group went back to the elderly woman, placed her on a blanket and carried her along the journey when her physicality failed to do so.  

The inclusion of this scene by Ramussen tapped into my sense of compassion as a viewer. Although it is unclear, it seemed that despite the men not even knowing this elderly woman, they felt it was their duty to carry her to refuge. There are several underlying ideas that the director of this documentary wanted to convey when displaying this relationship between the men and elderly woman. The most prominent of those ideas and the one that ties it all together must be the sense of community particularly in this scene. It effectively displayed the collective mindset that these displaced individuals had, which is the need to find refuge after being forced to leave their own homes. Although they might be from different towns, cities, or even countries, the unity seen in this sequence really ties together the fact that the entire group all had the same collective purpose when trying to be smuggled. They simply wanted to find a better place to call home.  

The director wants to appeal to the viewer’s emotions by showing the great lengths that refugees must go to in order to make do with their traumatic situation of their homeland. Ramussen exposes the reader to both forms of the story to bring awareness to the identity crisis that refugees must endure. Nawabi mentioned that the smuggler had great power over him because he chose what Nawabi can allow his identity to be in the public. The fact that Nawabi details his experience as being forced to change who and what he is because it would allow him to be able to seek refuge is simply an injustice to humanity. The documentary sheds light upon the immoral process that refugees must go through, and it brings a sense of anger and frustration to me as viewer. 

Ultimately, this documentary changed my understanding of the experiences of refugees and showed me the identity crisis that many have to face. There shouldn’t be a need for pseudonyms like “Nawabi” but instead transparency in this process of helping individuals find a new place to call home. 

Have you ever had to leave everything behind? Have you ever had to uproot yourself from the only life you’ve ever known just to ensure your survival? These are some of the difficult questions confronting refugees who embark on perilous journeys to escape their homes that have become so tainted by conflict, political turmoil, and instability, while enduring unimaginably  and sometimes inhumane conditions throughout the journey. However, as empathetic as we may strive to be, we must acknowledge that these are questions we can never fully grasp. While we understand that it may be challenging to leave behind a familiar world, we can’t truly comprehend the experience, as we’ve never lived through it ourselves.

 In Jonas Power Rasmussen’s documentary “Flee,” we accompany Amin Nawabi, a refugee who fled Afghanistan and shares his journey with an interviewer. Initially, our impression of Amin Nawabi is that of a courageous man who has endured unimaginable hardships, a survivor marked by a difficult past. He is someone that we cannot relate to, someone who has a perspective that we could only imagine to understand. However, as he recounts his experiences to the interviewer, we begin to see a more humanized perspective of him as he describes the miniscule details and complex layers of his ordeal. 

While on the surface, we understand that conflict and urgent circumstances compelled Amin’s family to leave Afghanistan and their home, the film gradually reveals a far more intricate narrative. It becomes apparent that escaping Afghanistan does not guarantee safety, and the complexities of their situation come to light as the story unfolds. One specific sequence that I believed was particularly moving was Nawabi’s recollection of his journey to Denmark. Despite the dangers and hardships of his escape, it was his connection and interaction with his fellow traveler and friend that humanized him. As the two boys navigated through their perilous trip, we were able to watch a close bond being forged between them through shared experiences and an understanding of each other’s fears. Nawabi’s unspoken affection for his companion and acknowledging his feelings is what added another layer of humanity in my eyes. Amidst the harsh realities of his situation, this reminded us that Nawabi was not just a refugee who was facing the unimaginable, but also a human being with ordinary emotions, desires, and connections. It emphasized that there was a common theme in the human experience, even in the most trying circumstances. 

Amin Nawabi’s story personalizes the plight of refugees to the viewers. It offers the viewer a look into the perspective of refugees and the barriers they had to overcome to find a place of security. Similarly to the people watching on the cruise, we often overlook the struggles of refugees, assuming they will receive the help they need. It seems more like a picture-worthy story, rather than real human experiences that involve immense amounts of hardship, pain, and danger. By starting the film from the perspective of Nawabi’s childhood, we can see how his calm, happy life with his family turned into a series of fleeing due to political instability, war, and corruption. Nawabi had to leave his family home and all their memories behind to a country where he constantly feared arrests and deportation. Nawabi and his family struggled to leave Russia due to the lack of money and the unsafe human trafficking. Nawabi’s sisters nearly died on their way to Sweden, and his big brother had to sacrifice his own relationship to save up money for the family to leave Russia. The stories of refugees are far more complex and emotional than the ones we see on news and television. The fear of being deported, sexually harassed, and killed are always in the back of their mind, making them skeptical of trusting others and telling their stories.

When I started watching the film Flee, I thought it was a story about how a boy survived and witnessed the murder of his whole family due to war and political instability in Afghanistan. However, as I watched more of the film, I realized that my belief was a narrative created by the trafficker to ensure Nawabi’s admission into the asylum and not get deported. It was a narrative that Nawabi had to tell everyone so that he could stay in Denmark and start his new life. He has to pretend to be someone else and tell a fake story. He must live in a lie to live in the stability that his family worked hard to create. It saddened me that Nawabi’s ex-boyfriend used Nawabi’s confession to threaten him during fights instead of empathizing with his story and trying to comfort him. I am so glad that Nawabi found Kasper, someone willing to wait for him to open up and take small steps.

At the end of the film, we learn that Nawabi’s mother and brother were able to leave Russia, and the family is now scattered across Europe. There is so much love within Nawabi’s family, and that love was able to change his life. It was so good to see that instead of judging Nawabi, Nawabi’s brother brought him to a gay bar and accepted him when Nawabi came out as homosexual. Their love is so selfless and heartwarming. It is truly amazing that they all survived and created stability for themselves. This film offers a perspective that makes their story so much more real to us, helping us to develop a better understanding of the plight of refugees.

Although it is commonly associated with entertainment for children, animation can be used to successfully portray heavy topics, such as those presented in Flee (2021). In the film, directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, the story of Amin Nawabi, a refugee from Afghanistan, is shared through a chronological retelling of events by Amin himself. The animation, in combination with real video footage, evokes a deep emotional response from watchers and creates a sense of sympathy for refugees with stories similar to Amin’s.

At the film’s start, Amin is presented at his current age to begin telling the tale of his refuge, but, shortly after, the audience is shown Amin’s childhood self. By establishing the character as young and innocent, audience members can immediately connect to the story emotionally, as people tend to be more understanding and gentler towards children, especially those in troubling situations, as the circumstances are out of the child’s control. This narrative is reinforced as Amin shares his story, beginning with his father being taken away from his family, never to be seen by them again. Shortly after this, Amin’s family is forced to leave their home country, Afghanistan, permanently. They escape to Russia where they are being helped by Amin’s brother who had left to live in Sweden when Amin was very young. This transitions into a new section of Amin’s life, where him and his family are constantly fearful of being found by Russian police and are searching for a way to leave Moscow to join his brother in Sweden. His family’s desperation is then met with the chance to send his sisters out of the country, an opportunity given to them by human traffickers.

The departure of Amin’s sisters in the story is portrayed using three methods: a more primitive animation done with natural colors and faceless figures, the full color and specific animation used in the majority of the film, and with real footage. This transition in the film provides real context for the terrifying nature of Amin’s conditions, as the scene follows his sisters as they are locked in a shipping container and loaded as cargo onto a ship and left there until it arrives at its destination. It begins with a dark animation with shadowy figures pushing refugees into the freight container and then switches between real images of a ship at sea crashing through waves and the refugees suffering through the journey. Finally, the sisters are shown in full animation, crying. Footage of the ship they boarded coming to shore and being discovered plays afterwards.

The scene moves the audience to feel the fear and sadness that comes with fleeing from home out of necessity. By incorporating each different style of films in the scene of Amin’s sisters’ travels, viewers become more involved in the story and how it encompasses the world around Amin; It brings the audience from just feeling for Amin to feeling with him. It allows for a greater sympathetic connection to Amin and continues to enhance the film as it follows Amin through the rest of his life, where continues to face struggles that now feel more real to viewers, who have a deeper concern for these specific challenges after seeing how they have unfolded for other characters already.

While watching the movie “Flee” by Jonas Pohar Ramussen, it made me realize how the refugee has been through many circumstances, and it was moving to see that we didn’t actually experience those challenges in our lives. The movie introduces the audience to Amin’s world by utilizing animation to depict the pain he has experienced and some real video to depict his struggles, anxieties, and goals. This film brought to mind one of my all-time favorite books, “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, which details the horrific experiences the book’s characters went through while residing in Afghanistan. And how they eventually left the country in order to live better in the USA. Amin and Amir are related in that they both have a fear of living and have been labeled as refugees.

Amin took us back to his early recollections by closing his eyes, and the fact that he also lied about his family’s survival suggests that the dread is still present between them. It also demonstrates the challenges faced by refugees, who must contend with social standards in order to live better. Amin’s persona becomes more realistic, and it sends a message to viewers who may not be aware of how refugees manage to live and go above and beyond to save their loved ones. As Amin describes his family’s experiences during their flight from Afghanistan, their struggles in Russia, and their perilous passage across the Baltic Sea, he conveys a powerful message to the audience. The film humanizes migrants by showing them to be unique people with unique stories and dreams as opposed to numbers or faceless masses.

When Amin and his family were crossing the water and they spotted a large ship, everyone became enthused because they believed the people on board would assist them and provide them with shelter. It’s actually a fantastic illustration of capitalism because it’s clear that the people were in need of assistance, but instead of assisting them, the onlookers were snapping photos and calling the border patrol. Because the migrants are attempting to leave their current reality and start over in a better place, it is clear that the rich people are in a higher social class than the poor ones. They had little reason to believe, but when they heard the words “They will take you back,” all of their smiles vanished. They gave the traffickers a ton of money, but ultimately received nothing. They are returning to their original location. These heartbreaking moments made them feel as though every aspect of their lives had just been shattered.

Amin lacked the courage to speak the truth to anyone, but at the end of the film, he was more accepting of his emotions. I shed a few tears when the movie was over, since it had such an impact on me. I developed more compassion for refugees. It served as a timely reminder that refugees are human beings with ambitions, dreams, and an indomitable spirit, rather than objective statistics. It gives the refugee experience a personal touch and expresses it in a way that is memorable.

The documentary Flee by Jonas Poher Rasmussen is the real story of a refugee, Amin Nawabi, who unravels his story and experiences for the first time. The usage of language, mixed media, color, interweaving the past and present and other choices makes the story extremely profound. Rasmussen effectively makes the narrative a personal experience alongside bringing awareness to the issues refugees go through and how they leave a permanent impact on their identity and wellbeing. Two tools that I found really intriguing and effective in the documentary were the incorporation of language as well as the use of mixed media.

Rasmussen chose to make the documentary multilingual and incorporated languages such as Russian, Spanish, Dari, and English to show the diversity of cultural experiences Amin was exposed to growing up. To me it served as a contrast, because many people enjoy studying and immersing themselves in different cultures and languages, and go to the same places Amin went to in order to experience the culture of a place. However, Amin was not able to appreciate the diversity and culture around him because he had bigger issues to deal with. At the beginning of the documentary, when he was reading an old diary and couldn’t read in his own language was heartbreaking, because in a way, being immersed in different cultures has made his roots distant. However, this choice helps the viewer understand that refugees have identities that come from a  multitude of places, which manifest through language, food, and other parts of culture. Additionally, using audio from interviews rather than having Amin or someone else simply narrate the story is powerful. I really enjoyed it because it makes the piece more conversational and raw, and allows the viewer to fully understand Amin’s relationship with his past and present. 

The story is told in a somewhat sequential order, as the film blends past experiences with the present, creating a complex structure. It’s also a composition of the news, recordings from the time, and animation. I wasn’t expecting this approach, but I was even more surprised at how smooth the transitions between the mediums were. Although all the mediums were very different, they worked together to seamlessly create a timeline and solidify the events in the viewer’s head. I associate animation with more fun purposes, such as children’s shows, and the choice of using that medium to convey such a deep message is what makes it more emotional. The usage of news and real footage adds a sense of harsh reality, and also generalizes the story to all refugees, rather than the story of one. Amin shares that “You grow up, you grow up way too fast” (1:21:25) when you go through experiences like this, and I understood the usage of mixed media to show how his childhood was consistently disrupted. Within animation, the choice of using black and white, and less distinct shapes in emotional and traumatic scenes represents how he’s uncovering a part of himself that he has kept hidden deep down, so far back that the details are fuzzy. Some examples of this are when his dad gets taken away, when he is a part of human trafficking in Russia, and when he is in a fight with his ex boyfriend, who threatens to report him. This feature also makes the story more generalized to all refugees, because almost all of them have gone through these traumatic events.

Aside from telling the story of refugees, the documentary also uncovers the faults within systems in place, such as people having to resort to human trafficking, the filth and dirt in the abandoned building they had to stay at, Amin getting an Iranian communicator in Denmark so there was miscommunication, and that the only way to get asylum was to lie about his family being dead. Although this was all upsetting, the film does have positives. Amin shares that “Getting out of Russia was a tremendous gift, I got a life” (56:08), and the film concludes with him finally sharing the burden of his story, accepting his identity, being successful in his career and in his relationship, and finally getting a home. The decision to end on a positive note leaves the audience hopeful and inquisitive, which is really powerful.

When home becomes the land thousands of miles away, does it cease to be one’s home? Does one truly feel at home ever again? Many refugees have to grapple with this notion of home as they find themselves leaving their homelands to embark on the unsettling process of adapting to their new surroundings. So when Ramussen begins his Documentary Flee by asking Nawabi, a refugee forced to leave any sense of home he had, to define “home,” I found it to be quite an effective and thought-provoking introduction. Is it cruel to ask someone who hasn’t had something in the capacity others have to define what it is? Our experiences and lack thereof change the way we view and define things; they change the weight certain words take on, and to Nawabi, the word “home” holds a heavy burden of his past. His experiences as a refugee reflect the definition he gives: “someplace safe, somewhere you know you can stay, and you know you don’t have to move on” (Flee 1:49), a permanence he hadn’t known for a while in his life. Ramussen’s narrative choice of starting with this question as well as the accompanying animations of running figures set the precedent for the rest of the documentary as it explores Nawabi’s struggles to live and deal with the everlasting trauma of fleeing his home, a pain that is no stranger to many refugees.

The way the documentary goes on to capture Nawabi’s story goes beyond the surface details typically told on the news about refugees, allowing the lifeless numbers and statistics to obtain faces, stories, voices, and most importantly, the humanity that they are stripped of. When reading such accounts on the news, it’s hard to find a moment to latch onto and relate to, yet when told on such a personal level as in Flee, we get to view the emotions, the fears, and the desires of the person and their nuanced story as told directly from their perspective. These universal parts of being human that the animations are able to capture are what we can understand and empathize with without necessarily experiencing the same plight. The documentary acquires this raw and authentic feel as we get to view the deep, heavy breaths Nawabi takes to prepare himself, the furrowing of his brow in moments of frustration and distress, the way he closes his eyes to relive his memories, and the way he pauses, reluctant to retell them. These little details in the animation carry so much weight to them that stays with the viewer throughout the entire documentary.

Moreover, the way Nawabi’s traumatic memories are intentionally depicted in this abstract, almost nightmarish animation devoid of both color and detail captures the indescribable pain that haunts him every day. This change in style is seen when Nawabi and his family were being human trafficked into Sweden by ship, in which his vivid memories begin to turn into a murky, gruesome depiction of drowning bodies and later into the harrowing shadows of the police that caught them. It’s as if we’re viewing the memories Nawabi buried in the depths of his mind out of self-preservation and is only now beginning to confront them, explaining the hazy effect and lack of details in those scenes. This stylistic choice allows the viewer to further resonate with Nawabi’s experiences through the feelings evoked by these scenes.

I was initially taken aback and hesitant about the choice of animation as the documentary’s medium, but I was ultimately swayed by it. It not only served as a way for Nawabi to stay anonymous, but it was also the best approach to telling his layered story in a way that allowed the viewer to connect with him. The versatility of animation to not only paint the physical turmoil he was going through but also the emotional turmoil makes it an extremely powerful storytelling medium.

Refugees are primarily people who flee their original country, to go elsewhere in order to be protected. Many refugees need to escape due to persecution of their race, nationality, religion, politics, or because of conflicts happening within their country. Due to tough immigration laws and struggles to get citizenship, many successfully escaped refugees stay quiet about what they went go through because of the risk of getting sent back to their country. In Ramussen’s animation film, Flee, he tells the story of Amin Nawabi who has never told anyone what has happened to him and how his experiences still linger with him today since he still fears the possibilities. 

In the film, Flee, Ramussen decides to start off the story with the earliest memory of Nawabi. During this reenactment, he plays over “Take on Me” to express the joyful memories that he had in Afghanistan and uses brighter toned colors. Ramussen consistently uses different styles of music in certain parts of the story being told by Nawabi to show the current mood of how he feels as he is telling it. For instance, around the 22 minute mark, Ramussen uses sad, monophonic orchestral music when going over how Nawabi had to flee his home while the Taliban went to invade Kabul. Furthermore, Ramussen also uses different artistic/animation styles when going over events. 

When Nawabi talked about his process from fleeing from Russia to get to Sweden originally with his mom and older brother, the animation gets quite darker in tone since it is not a blissful memory. Additionally, when he started talking about his mothers fear of drowning, the animation style shifted to silhouettes moving really fast to show how it is an imagined thought of what could’ve happened. When his sisters went to Sweden by themselves, he started talking about how the human traffickers are psychopaths and illustrated what possibly happened on that cargo they were on. To summarize, Ramussen uses his original animation technique to illustrate what happened to Nawabi that he experienced but uses empty faced silhouettes when it is something that happened to someone else or is a supposed thing that happened to narrate the story. 

By utilizing all these styles, Ramussen is able to accurately portray who is involved and how the speaker feels. When Nawabi speaks about a sad moment, the colors and music adjust to that to show the reader what is felt. Since he adjusts colors and music, he is also able to change artistic styles to demonstrate hypothetical situations, Nawabi’s verbatim experience, and historical evidence to demonstrate what happened in Afghanistan at that exact time and how refugees were.

I feel like we all recognize the word “immigrants” more than “refugees”. We are less familiar to the stories of refugees because not many, like Amin Nawabi, can open up and recall on their experiences. It is not something that most people can relate with or empathize with. We always read about or watch documentaries of history but never realizing how appalling it can actually be especially for the people at the time.

In Flee, Nawabi opens by lying comfortably down on a mat, closing his eyes, and taking himself with the viewers alongside back in his memories. It starts with young Nawabi running home with “Take on Me” by a-ha playing in his headphones. He says how he only remembers seeing his mother in grey hair, wishing to be able to see his mother when she was younger. He also remembers his siblings sitting in the yard telling stories of their father. When Ramussen asked about his father, it was too hard for Nawabi to continue as he says that he is not ready yet. Throughout this documentary, Ramussen makes it clear that Nawabi has trouble coming forward and sharing his story, even to his partner which has troubled him for a while, because he is afraid of his loved ones using his most vulnerable experiences to hurt him.

One scene that left me an impression was when Nawabi and his brother left their apartment in Russia and went outside. At the new Moscow McDonald’s opening event, the two brothers were caught by police and search for money to compensate for not having papers but since they just came out to see what was happening, they didn’t have any money on them only the watch that his father left behind, so they were taken into the police car. Inside, there was another refugee girl who was also caught and didn’t have any money so the police thought she would compensate a different way. But later, the two brothers were kicked off the car and the police entered the car assaulting the girl. Nawabi regrets for not standing up for the girl at the time, knowing how scared and helpless she would have been. This scene makes me wonder if I were in his place, what would I have done? Or maybe if I was the girl, how much despair would I be in that situation? It ultimately comes to do I save myself or others?

Touching up on Ramussen’s approach to telling Nawabi’s story, everything was put together in a way that is intriguing yet touching. I feel that he very attentive when it comes to details and is very patient with getting this out. He accurately portrays the blurriness of Nawabi’s memories but also finds real documentaries of the events at that time. He also switches between the scenes of Nawabi’s past and how its affect on his present life. He portrays the life that we don’t live and one we will probably never experience. The story of a refugee.

Throughout history, refugee crises have remained a global issue. We’ve become acclimated to seeing headlines in the news about millions of people being displaced as a result of wars, political corruption, human rights injustices, and economic instability. The documentary Flee by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, hones in on one such account about a refugee named “Amin Nawabi” as he and his family escape Afghanistan. Rasmussen’s attention to detail and visual effects truly enhance the emotion felt while watching this documentary.

One interesting element is the use of television, both actual and animated examples. When including live television clips, they’re only shown in a small square frame with rounded edges, as if you’re watching these events and updates unfold in real time on a vintage television. This serves as an important reminder that this isn’t just an elaborate story, it’s a part of a greater historical event and many people have either endured similar or worse stories. Rasmussen also chooses to include seemingly unnecessary aspects of Amin’s daily life, such as watching Mexican soap operas on television, to further humanize his story. At 38 minutes and 15 seconds, he and his family were shown watching a show in which a pregnant woman was being thrown out of her house. Their show is interrupted when police bang on their door, asking to see their papers. To protect themselves, Amin’s family fearfully and quietly stand by, waiting for the police to leave. There are clear parallels between Amin’s family and the woman, as they’re both in a helpless situation and risk being displaced. This is another important message Rasmussen is trying to convey, that you may not realize it but even dramatized fictional stories you watch or read about could be someone else’s unfortunate reality.

Additionally, Rasmussen utilizes color, or lack thereof, in more sad and emotional memories. 14 minutes and nine seconds into the film, the Afghan police arrest Nawabi’s father. Besides the outline of the door and the people in this scene, there are not many other details. There’s even a lack of color where only dark army green, black, white, and shades of gray are present. The only noticeable detail is the constant movement of the colors through their change in texture–lines, strokes, and graininess. This makes it difficult to focus on what is occurring because it seems like there are all of these shadows moving and embodying the scene. These effects only emphasize the depressing and chaotic nature of having their family torn apart. Another instance is Amin’s family and others traveling from Russia to Sweden through human trafficking methods when a violent storm throws their small boat off course. They’re discovered by a Norwegian cruise ship, filling the scene with bright colors that encapsulate their hope that they will finally be saved after a long voyage. However, similar to the other scene, darkness–or in this case the shadow of the yacht–drowns out the color and hope when the officers on the yacht say that they will be sent back to Russia. I saw this as one of the most crucial points in the film because the viewer has the same sense of false hope that conditions will improve and it’s heartbreaking to feel it being taken away so quickly. Rasmussen’s choices effectively capture the characters’ emotions to attract viewer attention, draw on their sense of pathos, and lead them to a deeper, personal understanding of refugee hardships.