Chinese artist Ai Weiwei directs his attention towards the ongoing refugee crisis, the biggest displacement of people since World War II. His documentary is apolitical and tries to focus on the human side of the picture. It’s not a news report or a commentary on the causes of the situation. Instead, it’s a combination of heartfelt stories spanning 23 countries that showcase people’s battle for dignity and basic rights. A truly epic movie complemented by impressive drone footage that’s as impressive as it is sad.
"Beautifully filmed testimonies that tear at your soul."
— Victoria Luxford
"Ai [Weiwei] clearly wants to take a macro view of an impossible problem, to find some clarity in abstraction. But whenever he just talks to the refugees face to face, we learn more than any drone shot could tell us."
— Emily Yoshida
More than 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war, the greatest displacement since World War II. Filmmaker Ai Weiwei examines the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact. Over the course of one year in 23 countries, Weiwei follows a chain of urgent human stories that stretch across the globe, including Afghanistan, France, Greece, Germany and Iraq.
Venice
1 nomination
This seems slightly hypocritical, not to the artist, but the Chinese. The uyger population in the west of the country is mainly held in “reeducation” camps and people outside of them live very strained and unpleasant lives. This makes me lose respect for this film because it seems this artist could focus on a crisis directly perpetrated in his own country.