The Other Side of Hope: Notes & Thoughts

After doing some basic research about the film 'The Other Side of Hope' I watched the film with two of my group mates. I also purposely didn't research about it in-depth in order to not give myself spoilers so that my thoughts about it are authentic and not biased from the thoughts of other through reviews and information I found.

I made some notes in the duration of the movie:

• First 8 mins of film shows the two men and there daily lives
• The set design and filming of the film looks very old fashioned 
• Old man goes around doing his work (buying clothes) in his car all day but wants to change to being a restauranteur
• Minimal dialogue do sometimes to hard to follow from scene to scene
• Khaled fled from Aleppo from attacks that happened O Finland: he tells the story of how he got out and the death of his latest son to how he went to Hungary and a riot broke out where he lost his sister and for his search for his sister from country to country 
• Khaled looks very distressed for most of the time 
• Wikstrom(Old man) wins at poker and buys a dying restaurant (Gold Pint)
• Khaled's friend talks to him about stifles of not having a job and feeling like not being able able to do anything in Finland and feeling unhappy about life 
• Khaled was a victim of easing in Poland and hid in a cargo where he landed in Finaland and hoped ovstay in Finland as he believes its a country of equality. He wants to stay in Finland and build a better future for him and his sister
• In court he gets denied to stay in Finland and is ordered to get deported to Turkey and to the Syrian borders
• Khaled flees the police by the help of one of the workers from the refugee centre and stays in Finland illegally
• Khaled gets into a fight with racists locals and ends up behind Wikstrom's restaurant bins.
• Khaled and Wikstrom's first encounter results in a physical encounter and Wikstrom makes Khaled stay in the restaurant and makes him work there with pay
• Wikstrom helps Khaled get's fake identification card from Winston
• Golden Pint is getting bankrupt and tries a different strategy (Sushi Restaurant)
• Khaled's sister has been found and Wikstrom helps Khaled resecue her from a refugee centre
• He finds his sister in a truck by a harbour with the help of Wikstrom and his friend 
• Khaled has a conversation with his sister about their family and how they're the only once in their family left; Khaled's sister wants to go to the police station to turn herself in
• Wikstrom comes back to his wife and find out she stopped drinking and being an alcoholic; he wants her to be the head waitress of his restaurant.

The movie in my opinion was ver hard to follow at first as I'm not really used to a film with very minimum dialogue to it. However, as the film progressed we get to see the main characters lives and how they ended up in the situation they are in, as particularly the scene where Khaled was being questioned why he is seeking asylum makes me feel sympathy for him as he recites his story and how he ended up where he was. He also made me feel and think about if I was in his shoes and I think the fact that he was expressionless most of the time until he was sent to be deported shows his worry and how he doesn't really have anyone to talk to, being in a country where he doesn't know anyone or the language, therefore he keeps everything to himself (although he did have a friend to talk to). The film also tackles issues about racism and struggles that refugees go through in order to feel accepted in a country that they didn't necessarily want to be in in the first place, but because of certain circumstances they don't have a choice. It also shows cultural differences and way people deal with each other and how people deal with their own problems. 

I also found sympathy for Wikstrom, being a businessman working by himself and we see him drive town to town alone doing the same thing can be tiring and the lack of communication and affection between him and his wife, we can see the distance between them and the fact that he possibly dint want to be in that environment anymore by suddenly leaving one day to start a new business. Wikstrom also probably felt sympathy for Khaled and took him in as he is in a similar situation himself, as he left his alcoholic wife and dying relationship with her. Both of them felt loneliness and being secluded in their own worlds and bubbles and finding solutions for this such as seeking asylum and finding his only family sister, Khaled and managing a restaurant and start fresh. Both of them wants a fresh start and possibly restart their lives. Overall, the impression I got from the movie is the fact that though people may face problems in life, however not giving up and finding new ways in order to build themselves up and starting anew and somehow having a new identity, where they can feel secure and safe.