Silent Trees

This is a heartbreaking documentary film about a Kurdish family trying to make it to safety in Poland. Being lured by human traffickers and the Belarus regime they end up in no man's land in the forest between Belarus and Poland. I will not spoil but the oldest daughter becomes a hero throughout the film trying to take care of her father and younger brothers. Even though it's a tough topic the film has some really poetic and caring moments and after having seen this film I don't feel without hope for this family. It is beautifully and respectfully told and it is a very important film. I hope that it will have lots of success in festivals around the world.

The film tells the story of the humanitarian crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border.

Or rather, the fate of one refugee family.

The subject matter is very important, I would give it 10 stars without hesitation.

Unfortunately, the film is boring.

I will say right away that I highly value the films of the Dardenne brothers or the Romanian New Wave. This documentary demonstrates a similar way of conducting the plot by showing episodes from everyday life, but what works in feature films does not necessarily have to work in a documentary.

There is no narrator, we watch long, monotonous scenes in which the family watches the news, has conversations about nothing like: "What do you want to do when you grow up?", there is also a search for a job and health problems. The almost 30-second sequence of the heroine falling asleep on the kitchen counter or trying to get her little brother to get out of bed for over a minute is something completely normal in this film, unfortunately quite boring for the viewer.

The film features original, interesting animations that usually show the horrors of the borderlands.

Unfortunately, people who are not familiar with the film's issues will not learn any numbers or statistics (e.g. How many such families there are, how many have managed to live in Europe, etc.).

I give it 8 stars only because the problem is very important. There are more interesting films on this subject.