Flee is the first film ever nominated for the categories of Best International Film, Best Animated Feature, and Best Documentary Feature, and it is well deserved on all counts. As a documentary it is. powerful, first person lived refugee experience. As an animated film it is beautifully drawn in a way that fully fleshes out Amin's story. And as an international film it brings the sort of story westerners often turn a blind eye to. And well really as any sort of film it is a powerful experience.
Animation is one of my favourite forms of film making because of what it offers that live action cannot. It can create the fantastic but more honestly it can get to a deeper truth, experience the world in the way we actually experience instead of the limited ways our senses dictate. Films like Flee capture this and in doing so create a very honest sort of sharing of story.
Director Rasmussen is interviewer and interpreter, bringing the story of Amin Nawabi to us through Nawabi's own words. It is a powerful one that is fraught with peril throughout. But it ends in a place of joy. There is a moment near the end that just unleashes queer joyousness in such a beautiful way. And while the film's conclusion may be a bit more peaceful, it is at the same time so full of happiness. Not all stories end this way so seeing Flee can make us all so thankful.
Flee
Starring: Amin Nawabi, Riz Ahmed, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Writer/Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
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