“In a way, it’s sort of the fate of Palestinians, not to end up where they started, but somewhere unexpected and far away.”

These words from Palestinian-American professor and activist Edward Said open To a Land Unknown, flickering noiselessly against a black screen, demanding that the audience digest the words. Director and co-writer Mahdi Fleifel uses Said’s words as an outline for his story on numerous levels. He’s not only telling a story of people physically displaced, but also inching farther and farther away from their humanity.

To a Land Unknown tells the story of two Palestinian refugees, Chatila (Mahmood Bakri) and Reda (Aram Sabbah), who are stranded in Athens, desperate to restart their lives in Germany. Because of the cousins’ refugee status, their only hope of immigrating is via costly falsified passports. The two resort to get-rich-quick schemes and pickpocketing to come up with the money. Unfortunately, Reda blows their money to satiate his drug addiction, leaving the duo in a predicament. 

The two meet a young Palestinian boy (Mohammad Alsurafa) trying to make it to his aunt in Italy. They immediately take a liking to each other, and Chatila hatches a scheme that will reunite the boy with his aunt and get him and his cousin their money.

From the jump, we are immediately invested in this beautifully complicated dynamic between Chatila and Reda. Bakri and Sabbah craft a dynamic so lived in, you are able to feel years of history in simple glances and touches. These are two men who love each other and would do anything for each other, but are constantly challenged by the other’s way of thinking and operating. 

Sabbah infuses Reda with a small shimmer of hope, making it difficult for him to stomach some of the things he has to do. Reda’s mom confides in Chatila that Reda has always been very sensitive. Sabbah doesn’t don this as a weakness; rather, Reda’s sensitivity pours out of him and into the audience.

Bakri is magnetic and haunting as Chatila. He’s much more hardened to the world and has a much easier time justifying his actions. He commands the screen with a quiet ferocity that may erupt at any moment, forcing you to fight between wanting to look away and to watch as long as possible. 

These actors never reduce Chatila and Reda to their pain or their predicament, despite how desperate their circumstances become. While broken down, their personhood shines through the cracks, at least to start. As their situation becomes more and more fraught, though, those little glimmers become fewer and farther between until we don’t recognize these people we’ve come to root for. We know they’re not inherently bad people, but their desperation has dehumanized them. If there’s any justice in this business, these two will get showered in award recognition.

The tense and taut screenplay molds these men as dimensional people with hopes, dreams, and aspirations. Fleifel, along with co-writers Fyzal Boulifa and Jason McColgan, forces our characters and the audience to reckon with this dissonance between these people wanting a beautiful and normal life and the increasingly ugly means by which achieving said life.

Fleifel starts the film almost as a documentary, observing the men trying to figure out what their life looks like in this strange gray area. The camera patiently inserts itself but never feels intrusive. However, as the circumstances become more dire and unpredictable, so does the editing and camera movement. It devolves into a heist thriller. This amalgamation of style allows the film to gradually build until its devastating crescendo. As we build toward the “big job,” the stakes heighten, unforeseen elements come into play, and we’re guessing just how far they’ll go just to keep the plan on track. 

Despite the chaos, Fleifel never judges the duo and asks us to think about why people would ever be pushed to this point. A lot of the conversation surrounding the injustices surrounding Palestinians does not focus on the aftermath of relocating from the horrific violence, when, in fact, that’s only the beginning of the hardships. There are no systems in place or widespread efforts from other nations to meaningfully help and support people like Chatila and Reda, who are now nationless. The ramifications of the atrocities in Palestine will be felt for generations to come.

This film is effective because Fleifel empathizes with Chatila and Reda and asks the audience to do the same. Throughout the film, Chatila and Reda talk about the restaurant they long to open in Germany and how they dream of serving Palestinian food. These conversations are the few times either cousin is genuinely happy and smiling in the film. These aspirations are nothing out of the ordinary. They are not asking for the world, just the ability to exist and live in peace, as all people should be allowed to. 

Fleifel’s film is unnerving and uncomfortable as we watch people go to the brink and back just to find some security. In their quest to be treated with decency and value, they whittle away at their inherent value, devolving into the very thing they’ve been told they are. 

To a Land Unknown will sit with me for quite some time. It’s not a clean cut and nestles into the gray area. But, in the end, it asks us to hold on to our humanity and to make it possible for others to do the same. Most importantly, it demands empathy long after the catastrophe resolves. This film is necessary and demands to be not only seen but fully digested and understood.

Review Courtesy of Adam Patla

Feature Image Courtesy Watermelon Pictures via The Hollywood Reporter