The Merger (2018)

26 Saturday Jan 2019

Tags

Australia, Bodgy Creek, Comedy, Damian Callinan, Drama, Footy, John Howard, Kate Mulvany, Mark Grentell, Rafferty Grierson, Refugees, Review, Stage adaptation

D: Mark Grentell / 103m

Cast: Damian Callinan, Kate Mulvany, John Howard, Rafferty Grierson, Fayssal Bazzi, Nick Cody, Josh McConville, Penny Cook, Angus McLaren, Stephen Hunter, Ben Knight, Sahil Saluja, Zenia Starr, Francis Kamara, Harry Tseng, Aaron Gocs

In the small town of Bodgy Creek, the local Aussie Rules footy team is in trouble. Without a coach, or even a full squad of players, and a clubhouse that has been condemned due to asbestos, the Roosters need a miracle – or a merger with another team. Town patriarch and team overseer Bull Barlow (Howard) is lost for answers, so when his daughter-in-law, Angie (Mulvany), suggests they ask local outcast and ex-professional footy player Troy Carrington (Callinan) to coach the team and find more players, he’s less than enthusiastic. An encounter with a Syrian refugee, Sayyid (Bazzi), gives Troy an unusual idea: to re-populate the Roosters with Sayyid and some of the other refugees that the town is supporting. As well as the expected resistance from Bull, some of the existing players are upset by Troy’s approach, but as they begin to learn about their new team mates and the often harrowing experiences they’ve had in their home countries, bonds develop between them, bonds that enable the Roosters to begin winning games, and restore the town’s lost pride…

Adapted from Callinan’s one-man stage show of the same name, The Merger is a timely comedy that looks at the refugee crisis, and Australia’s response to it through the use of Bodgy Creek’s tight-knit community. The movie has a serious streak to it, but this is first and foremost a light-hearted, very funny feature that serves as a reminder that when the Aussies make movies that focus on small town foibles and posturings, the end results are always entertaining – even when there’s a message in there too. Such is the case here, with Cullinan’s show being expanded to meet the demands of its new medium, and thanks to director Mark Grentell’s smart handling of the material, the comedy and the drama mix in such a way that neither overshadows the other. This makes for a light-hearted yet sincere movie that is as comfortable exploring topics such as xenophobia as it is in exploiting the ignorance of its characters, including bar owner Porterhouse (“Well done!”) (Gocs) and his attempts at fusion cuisine. There’s an endearing mix of humorous dialogue (“A hermit going to a stranger’s funeral is just weird”) and running gags (School Shoes’ injuries), and wry observations on a number of topics from small town politics to cultural differences.

Humour aside, the movie is also well crafted in terms of its drama. Troy befriends a ten year old boy called Neil (Grierson), whose father, Angie’s husband, has died a year ago in a motorbike accident. Getting to know him by making a documentary about Troy, Neil helps bring Troy out of his “hermit” shell, and by doing so, finds he has a new father figure in his life. Inevitably, Troy and Angie begin to develop their own relationship, and while this is entirely predictable, it’s handled with deft assurance by Grentell, and Callinan ensures there’s a minimum of sentimentality involved. More successful still is the focus on what it means to be a refugee, and the toll it takes when loved ones have been left behind. Less satisfying though is Bull’s blatant prejudice, an aspect of the movie that comes across as forced rather than credible, and which is resolved too easily thanks to an unlikely intervention by Sayyid. The performances are solid, with Mulvany and Callinan sharing an easy chemistry, while Grierson is terrific as a ten year old with way too many questions (the follow on question to “What’s a monologue?” is priceless), and a neat line in honest put-downs. Each character gets their moment in the spotlight (even Stan, the team’s oldest “player”), and each actor responds accordingly. It’s also given an extra shot of vim and vigour thanks to Tony Luu’s vibrant cinematography, and its willingness to embrace (and address) the vicissitudes of small town life, all of which adds up to a movie that has much to say but which does so without being pedantic or judgmental.

Rating: 8/10 – hugely enjoyable, and with moments of poignancy and heartbreak, The Merger is a wonderful reminder that when it comes to movies like these, the Aussies know exactly what they’re doing; charming and sincere in equal measure, its message of tolerance and inclusivity is welcome in the current international and political climate, and its positive attitude makes it exactly the kind of feelgood movie we can all do with right now.

A Syrian Love Story (2015)

29 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Tags

Amer, Arab Spring, Bashar al-Assad, Damascus, Documentary, France, Raghda, Refugees, Review, Sean McAllister, Syria, Yarmouk Camp

D: Sean McAllister / 76m

For Amer and Raghda, love began in a Syrian prison in 1989. They had both been arrested for protesting against the Syrian regime, but on their release they married and soon had four children, all sons: Shadi, Fadi, Kaka, and Bob. In 2009, Raghda was imprisoned again for writing a book that was critical of the Syrian government. When she was released, the Arab Spring protests that began sweeping the country made the family’s situation untenable, and they fled to Lebanon, and the now notorious Yarmouk Camp. There, the French Embassy granted them political refugee status, and they moved to Albi in France. But life in France brought with it a new set of problems: as the family adjusted to being in a foreign country, the relationship between Amer and Raghda began to fracture. With both unable to reconnect with each other following Raghda’s incarceration, the stresses and strains of living “peacefully” began to drive a wedge between them that made life difficult for Amer and Raghda and their children. While their country sank further and further into ruin thanks to the still continuing Syrian Civil War, Amer and Raghda fought their own war of attrition, one that threatened to tear them asunder as irrevocably as their homeland was being torn asunder…

Shot over a five year period from 2009 onward, A Syrian Love Story is a heartbreakingly raw examination of a relationship in freefall. Director Sean McAllister, having gained the trust of Amer and Raghda and their children, has assembled a movie that is often unbearably painful to watch. With his camera often positioned uncomfortably close to the “action”, McAllister captures the depth of feeling and distressed emotions of both parents. In the beginning, Amer is a loving father and devoted husband – his affection for his youngest son, Bob, is lovely to see – dedicated to looking after his family in Raghda’s absence, and it’s his solid presence that anchors the movie until her return. Up until then, all we’ve seen of Raghda is photographs that show a lively, vibrant woman with a ready smile. But the Raghda we finally meet is a pale shadow of her former self, silent, withdrawn, and seemingly unhappy with being away from her home country; whatever trauma she suffered while in prison is still with her. Faced with this change in his wife, Amer proves unable to cope, and as their marriage begins to crumble, we’re witness to moments that are so uncompromisingly raw and honest, they’re by turns difficult to watch and unavoidably compelling.

That it never feels exploitative is due in large part to the relationship McAllister has built up with the family. At times he’s brought into the conversations (and the rows), and asked what he thinks. McAllister cannily avoids being pinned down by either side in the marital divide, but over time he does provide support for the children, allowing them an outlet for their own feelings of confusion and anger and loss. These moments are some of the most affecting in the whole movie, as the effects of leaving Syria and their parents’ break up are expressed calmly and rationally, while their expressions point to the turmoil going on inside them. Particular attention is paid to Bob, for whom the whole experience at times seems to be having the greatest impact, as when he expresses his desire to return to Syria and take a knife with him to kill President Bashar al-Assad (he’s only five or six when he says this). Death and murder, always there in the background, intrude more towards the end as Shadi points out all his friends who have died, pointing them out from photographs showing much happier times. It’s a poignant moment, and a potent one too – one of many in the movie – a reminder of what they’ve escaped from, and how important it was that they did.

Rating: 9/10 – an unflinchingly honest and emotionally devastating documentary, A Syrian Love Story juxtaposes the breakdown of a marriage with the struggle to find a foothold in a foreign land; ably balancing the personal with the political as well, this is illuminating, superbly assembled, and an invaluable glimpse into the effects of a refugee crisis that, sadly, shows no sign of abating.

I Am Nasrine (2012)

03 Saturday Mar 2018

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Tags

Drama, Iran, Micsha Sadeghi, Refugees, Relationships, Review, Sexuality, Shiraz Haq, Tina Gharavi, Travellers

D: Tina Gharavi / 88m

Cast: Micsha Sadeghi, Shiraz Haq, Steven Hooper, Christian Coulson, Nichole Hall

Nasrine (Sadeghi) lives in Iran with her mother and father, and her older brother, Ali (Haq). One day she finds herself being detained by the police. What happens to her is both violent and distressing. Fearing for her continued safety, her father decides that she and Ali must travel to the UK and seek asylum there. They enter the country illegally and find themselves in another difficult situation: while their application is processed, Nasrine has to attend school, while Ali is forbidden to work. They are given a flat in which to live, but in order for them both to get by, Ali finds work in a car wash and, later, a kebab shop as well. At school, Nasrine finds it hard to fit in, but makes a friend in Nicole (Hall), who is part of the local travellers community. Meanwhile, Ali struggles to fit in socially, his serious demeanour keeping others at bay (his concerns about his sexuality don’t help either). Nasrine also has relationship issues, having attracted the attention of Nicole’s older brother, Leigh (Hooper). But with the events of 9/11, both Nasrine and Ali discover that being refugees in a foreign country has unexpected consequences…

The debut feature of Iranian-born Gharavi, I Am Nasrine is a coming-of-age tale that explores issues surrounding the refugee experience, politics and sexuality, and finding one’s place in the world. But though it addresses these issues in various ways, and to varying degrees, it’s a movie that is about connections, how difficult they are to make, how difficult they are to maintain, and how difficult they are to break when they’ve run their course. In Iran, Nasrine’s actions cause the end of her middle-class lifestyle. In the UK she has to start again. The same applies to Ali, charged with being Nasrine’s protector, but equally unnerved by the changes that have led them to a dingy flat in London, and an uncertain future. Whether they are better off proves more and more debatable as the movie progresses, but it’s the siblings’ attempts at fitting in that provide the necessary dramatic focus. Whether it’s Nasrine’s growing friendship with Nicole and then Leigh, or Ali’s attempts to deal with his feelings for other men, including kebab shop customer Tommy (Coulson), it’s the way that writer/director Gharavi takes these basic desires and shows their universality that makes it all work so well. Refugees or not, Nasrine and Ali deserve the same respect we ourselves feel entitled to.

Gharavi’s approach is often straighforward and/or blunt, but this isn’t a bad thing as it precludes the possibility of any unnecessary sentiment, and allows what happens to Nasrine and Ali to remain unforced throughout. There’s a degree of unexpected and poetic beauty in the movie’s imagery as well, from the shot of Nasrine looking back from the motorbike she’s riding on in Tehran (see above), to the moment when she and Leigh experience their first kiss. Gharavi is also confident enough to minimise the impact of 9/11, safe in the knowledge that it will resonate quietly as the narrative unfolds, an unspoken component of the racial distrust and hatred that follows. She’s aided by a terrific performance from first-timer Sadeghi who instills Nasrine with a naïve yet determined quality that won’t be swayed, and unobtrusive production design courtesy of Chryssanthy Kofidou that anchors the narrative in a recognisable and credible setting. Gharavi occasionally makes some obvious dramatic choices that border on being predictable and rote, but the sincerity and the integrity of the story she’s telling more than make up for these choices, making the movie an absorbing exercise in what it is to try and belong anywhere where belonging comes at a price.

Rating: 8/10 – an engaging, thought-provoking movie that paints a candid and guileless picture of the need for acceptance, whatever someone’s personal circumstances, I Am Nasrine is severe and heartelt at the same time, and entirely up front about its plea for inclusivity; Gharavi’s passion for telling Nasrine’s story is evident throughout, and the story itself is rendered with compassion and honesty, making this a movie that is far more effective, and affecting, than it might seem at the outset.

NOTE: The quote by Ben Kingsley on the poster translates as: “An important and much needed film.”