The refugee experience is something a great number of us will never experience. We can talk about our own injustices and class barriers until the cows come mooing and while a majority of these talking points are valid there’s no comparison to the plight of never being able to go home coupled with the weight of having to find a new one. The plight of Palestinians is one so varied and numerous trying to name all that’s happened would require a body of text my wordcount won’t allow for, but I will point out that they currently have some of the oldest refugees in modern times. They’re a perfect case study in the displacement of indigenous peoples with over seven million people across several generations (some refugees in their own country) vying for the right to return only to be denied by the genocidal apartheid state (and international communities) that exiled them in the first place.  

One such victim of this forced exodus is filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel. Born in Dubai and raised in a refugee camp in Lebanon Fleifel was brought to Denmark at a young age which allowed him to study film in Europe. He’s dedicated his career to the bring to light the struggles of displaced Palestinians and his new film To a Land Unknown is a perfect example of this. The story of two cousins trapped in Limbo as migrants in Greece, To a Land Unknown has Chatila (Mahmood Bakri) and Reda (Aram Sabbah) lie, cheat and steal their way to some forged passports to better pastors in Germany. This isn’t without their constant setbacks with the two stepping in to act as DIY traffickers for a young boy from Gaza (Mahammad Alsurafa) trying to get to his family in Italy.  

To say this film is heartbreaking is an understatement. The struggles both these characters have to suffer through is beyond unimaginable even though they treat them as just a regular obstacle to move past. Bakri and Sabbah are just outstanding, their handling of the stress and pain they have with a world at odds with them is telegraphed really well. Their internal conflicts are presented with immense skill in the cinematography. Greek  DOP Thodoros Mihpoulos does a lot with space as the world the two inhabit becomes more and more  centralised and tight making the personal tensions between both characters all the more intense. The colour  palette utilised matches the films thematic arc. The closer they are to their goal the more saturated the visuals and vice versa.  

The suspense within the story is something that would make the Safdie’s blush along with the how raw each sequence of events is, you can see it’s all been well researched. The statement the film is making on the continued desperation of migrants functioning in a hostile world is palpable from the offset. The dialogue is paired beautifully to this. Chatila makes the comment: “Long Live Syria? What happened to Long Live Palestine?” in response to a small betrayal of words with his smuggler. It’s clear they inhabit a dog-eat- dog world where no one person is truly responsible for their hardships, it’s the world’s fault. Chatila and Reda are presented as complicated individuals who have to make massive sacrifices in the pursuit of happiness whilst catharsis is dangled like a carrot to the audience, you truly want to see these two make it. 

The film is purposely edited too with the pacing being on point, I think the film chooses performances over this pacing in places but that’s small peeve. The mixing needs to highlighted as well this does a great job with diegetic sounds. Theres always an abundance of noises throughout which add to the everyday tension these characters go through but also makes the quieter scenes all that more amplified.  

The Spector of Western Imperialism lingers heavy on To a Land Unknown, this microcosmic study of an all too-common event in modern day Europe is our cross to bear as it is for Chatila and Reda. Fleifel’s presentation makes for a movie where our victims are everywhere, and the perpetrator is intentionally left out as it the system to blame just as much as state players. A film needed for these most unsympathetic times.  

Rating: 4.5/5

  • Directed by: Mahdi Fleifel
  • Written by: Fyzal Boulifa, Mahdi Fleifel, Jason McColgan
  • Starring: Angeliki Papoulia, Manal Awad, Mahmoud Bakri
  • Runtime: 1hr 45min
  • Released:  Jan. 4th, 2025 (US) | Feb. 14th, 2025 (IE & UK)

Review by Marcus Rochford.

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