Film Reviews

Welcome

• Rating:
• Director: Phillipe Lioret.
• Starring: Vincent Lindon, Firat Ayverdi, Audrey Dana, Derya Ayverdi.
• Details: France / 110 mins (15A).

The plight of the refugee is brought home in this touching human story about determination, love, survival, and faith in people. It's taken three months, but 17-year-old Kurdish refugee Bilal (Ayverdi) has made is way from Iraq to Calais, France. He has dreams of tracking down his girlfriend, Mina (Derya Ayverdi) in London and making it as a footballer for Manchester United. Stopped at the port by officials, Bilal believes that he would be able to swim the English Channel if he received the proper training. Middle-aged Simon (Lindon) works at the local swimming pool and takes pity on Bilal, granting him a few lessons on the cheap. However, when he learns of Bilal's plans, Simon can't justify teaching him anymore, but he can't let the kid attempt the dangerous crossing, a near-impossible journey that would take ten hours in freezing water and strong currents, on his own... Welcome, in short, is a heartbreaker. But it will warm your heart before it breaks it. A real human story, director/writer Phillipe Lioret draws parallels in the treatment of foreign nationals and Nazism and finds they are one and the same. When Simon encounters a security guard kicking refugees out of the supermarket, his soon-to-be ex-wife Marion (Dana) is horrified: "Do you know what banning people from shops leads to? Want me to get you a history book?" The bitter irony of the title is not lost. Lioret also shows what it really means to be a Good Samaritan - it's okay to toss a fifty-cent into a paper cup but a true Samaritan puts everything on the line for the cause. It's illegal to help refugees in France, and Simon faces jail time for his aiding of Bilal. Simon, at first, only helps Bilal to impress Marion and hopefully win her back, but the more time he spends with the kid the more he is amazed with his dogged determination and his love for Mina. Simon is the audience - he represents (at first) our apathy and then our hopes of what we could be. Strip it back and Welcome is just another buddy-buddy drama, but to do that would mean ignoring the warmth a human being is capable of, the gritty realism of the refugees' plight, the slow burning power of the story as it sucks the viewer in, and the performances. Lindon's woe-is-me persona shone in Anything For Her and he's at it again here. It's no surprise that he's perfect as Simon - the real surprise is newcomer Firat Ayverdi. The youngster displays a talent far beyond his experience and he is certainly one for the future.

Review by Gavin Burke