!VAR HAGENDOORN

In This World

It is hard not to be moved and angered by In This World, Michael Winterbottom's harrowing film about two Afghan refugees' journey from a refugee camp in Pakistan to London. I recommend watching it alongside Code Inconnu by Michael Haneke, which tells a similar story in one of its subplots.

Michael Winterbottom gives a face to the newspaper stories about illegal immigrants trying to make their way to Europe. They risk their lives in pursuit of their dream. Along the way they are cheated and robbed and occasionally they find compassion. When they reach their destination they find that their dream is still out of reach.

The economies of Western-Europe, the U.S. and cities such as Dubai rely on a steady stream of illegal immigrants to do all the dirty work. As long as the global wealth imbalance remains and the potential gains outweigh the risks, immigrants from Central-Europe, Africa, South-America and the Middle-East, will keep on trying to get to either Europe or the US. In This World, which premiered in 2002, will remain topical for some time to come.