Filmmaker Kaurismäki takes unusual approach to refugee issue
Jochen Kürten eg
March 29, 2017
In "The Other Side of Hope," the cult Finnish director explores difficult realities in his own delightful style. Kaurismäki's latest film won a Silver Bear at the Berlinale and is now released in cinemas in Germany.
Image: Pandora Film
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Aki Kaurismäki's refugee drama 'The Other Side of Hope'
The film by the cult Finnish director obtained a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, and now it is being released in Germany's cinemas.
Image: Sputnik Oy
Two men, one film
Kaurismäki's films are characterized by odd figures; in his latest movie, he once again offers two wonderful characters: the Syrian refugee Khaled Ali, played by Sherwan Haji (left) and Waldemar Wikström in the role of Sakari Kuosmanen, who's just left his job as a sales representative for menswear and decides to open a restaurant.
Image: Sputnik Oy
A winning filmmaker
The Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki obtained the Silver Bear for best director for "The Other Side of Hope" at the award ceremony of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2017.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Images/B. Pedersen
Finland's hospitality
Kaurismäki shows how refugees might feel when they land in a foreign country after a long and dangerous journey to flee their home country. This also includes, in the best cases, hospitality. After initial difficulties, Khaled is warmly welcomed by the staff of the restaurant where he also starts working.
Image: Sputnik Oy/M. Hukkanen
Depicting difficulties
Despite the optimistic and idealist approach of the film, Aki Kaurismäki also depicts the Syrian refugee's painful experiences in Finland. Khaled Ali's asylum application is rejected, even though he comes from bombed-out Aleppo. He is attacked by Finnish neo-Nazis, and life in the asylum seekers' accommodation center is characterized by hardship and deprivation.
Image: Sputnik Oy/M. Hukkanen
Kaurismäki's sense of style
"The Other Side of Hope" features Kaurismäki's typical aesthetic style - including references to the history of cinema, a balanced combination of humor and seriousness, well-directed actors, and an original selection of music.
Image: Sputnik Oy/M. Hukkanen
Praise in Berlin
At the Berlinale, the film presented by Kaurismäki (left) and his actors - including Nuppu Koivu and Sherwan Haji, shown here - quickly became a critics' and public's favorite. "The Other Side of Hope" provokes laughter while inspiring reflection by addressing the fate of asylum seekers.
Image: Getty Images/P. le Segretain
Aki Kaurismäki's 'Le Havre'
The Finnish filmmaker had already dealt with the topic in his last film, long before Europe faced its large wave of refugees coming from the Middle East and elsewhere. In 2011, Kaurismäki presented his film "Le Havre" in Cannes. It tells the story of a meeting between a former author turned shoe shiner and an underage refugee from Africa.
Image: Sputnik Oy/Marja-Leena Hukkanen
The second film of a trilogy
The filmmaker sees "The Other Side of Hope" as the second part of a trilogy about flight and displacement. Kaurismäki, pictured here during the Berlinale awards ceremony, asked at a press conference in the German capital: "Where the hell is our humanity? If we are not humans, who the hell are we?"
"The Other Side of Hope" was a critics' favorite at the Berlinale. The work by Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki came at the top of the list of a ranking of all the movies competing at Berlin's international film festival in 2017, according to a ranking by British film magazine "Screen International," which compiles different reviews.
The jury headed by Dutch director Paul Verhoeven nevertheless decided to give the Golden Bear to the Hungarian film "On Body and Soul."
Kaurismäki won the Silver Bear for best director, and "The Other Side of Hope" is one of his most accomplished films.
Image: Pandora Film
His movies can always be immediately recognized. There are few directors with such a strong personal signature. "The Other Side of Hope" is no exception. The story told by the Finnish director features once again his typical combination of dry humor, bizarre wit and melancholy.
An unusual approach for a refugee story
In this film dealing with a politically-charged topic, refugees, Kaurismäki's particular filmmaking style comes as a blessing. Where other directors too often point accusing fingers, the Finn allows his audience to breathe. Many political movies promote moral views through intellectual overstatements or through Hollywood-style sugarcoated plots, yet a story that isn't burdened by sermons tends to have a more honest and durable impact.
Image: Pandora Film
Kaurismäki, a master of cinematic understatement and laconic wit, deals with the refugee crisis without avoiding difficult aspects of reality.
"I would like to change the Finns' attitude," said the filmmaker in Berlin. When 20,000 Iraqis came to Finland, many people in the country "perceived that as an attack, like a war." He was alarmed by their reaction and decided to make a film dealing with the issue.
"I respect Mrs. Merkel," he also said of the German chancellor, who was harshly criticized for her open-door refugee policy, "She is the only politician who seems to be at least interested in the problem."
