Migration is one of the most pressing issues of our time – and a subject of many current films. Sofia Kleftaki watched three films on this topic during the Berlinale. Each one approaches the search for a place that offers refuge and home in a different way.
The term “home” is associated by many people with a complex idea that is constantly changing. The films Dreams, Das Licht (The Light), and I Agries Meres Mas (Our Wildest Days), all part of the Berlinale program, not only show me the stories of people who are forced to leave their homeland. I recognize the fears, hopes, and the search for a place that offers refuge – physically, but above all emotionally. These films tell of the deep tornness that accompanies migration, of the wound that the loss of home leaves behind, and of the strength it takes to take the step into an uncertain future. In very different ways, these three films deal with migration and the challenges associated with it.Migration and Social Inequality
Michel Franco's drama Dreams begins with a scene in a truck on its way to the USA, transporting people there. The talented ballet dancer Fernando from Mexico is among those fleeing. In San Francisco, he wants to start a new life. He is a young man desperately trying to escape poverty and social exclusion. Fernando meets the significantly older Jennifer, portrayed by Jessica Chastain. She is a wealthy American who supports Fernando and offers him a place in her luxurious home. However, as Fernando begins to find his footing in the USA, Jennifer seems increasingly dissatisfied. She has him deported.Migration and the Integration Process
Tom Tykwer takes a different approach with Das Licht than Michel Franco does in Dreams. Tykwer's film revolves around the financially well-off Berlin family Engels, whose members have become lost in their social isolation and egocentric worldview. Soon, a Syrian woman named Farrah enters their lives as a housekeeper. This encounter ultimately brings unexpected self-discovery to each family member. Notably, the “typically German dysfunctional family,” as the son Jon calls them in the film, slowly begins to come together through Farrah's character. At the same time, little is revealed about Farrah's life in Germany, apart from her living situation in a women's shared apartment and her appointment at the job center. Das Licht focuses more on Farrah's influence on the family structures of the Engels family. Only in the final scene does the film tell the tragic story of Farrah's flight and her journey to Germany.Migration in the Everyday Life of Youth
Vasilis Kekatos presents a very different perspective with I Agries Meres Mas (Our Wildest Days). It is a story about the search for freedom and identity that also subtly addresses social marginalization in Greece. The young Chloe flees from her family situation and embarks on a journey into the isolation of the Greek countryside. It is a unique kind of “road movie”. Chloe sets out to find both belonging and freedom, as well as an answer to the question of what home actually means. The film depicts a group of young people traveling through the country in their camper van. They are not only searching for themselves but also want to discover other people who, like them, live on the fringes of society. The groups of social outsiders they encounter are not only victims of the system but also embody resistance. Kekatos portrays a world where traveling and the search for a better future occur both literally and metaphorically. The film I Agries Meres Mas places migration in a larger societal context. It shows that the desire for a better life does not only lead people to flee from one country to another. The term migration can also describe the everyday escapes of young people. They want to turn their backs on a world that confronts them primarily with social and economic difficulties.February 2025