Flee

Jonas Rasmussen's animated Documentary is an ultimately rewarding docu-drama concerning a young man, Amin, who's life was upended when the Soviet Union's war in Afghanistan collapsed and his native country was plunged into civil war. He is living in Denmark as the Documentary takes place.

Rasmussen has created a complex telling of the tale. Most of the movie is animated, but there is significant newsreel footage as well - mixed-media may be a more accurate description than pure animation*. Further, the movie begins as an interview of the now 30-something Amin, but blends in recreations of his life story with 'behind the scenes' (animated) footage of the Documentary's progress. Add, in the stock footage and it's a heady construct. Fortunately, it all works, and creates some suspense since the story-telling isn't fully linear.

At it's core, FLEE is a survival tale. Amin and his family escape Afghanistan only to end up in Russia where they once again have to run away in order to seek true freedom. The title has a dual meaning - both the physical act and a psychological one. It i the latter definition where Rasmussen excels in depicting how Amin's struggles have affected his emotional well-being and personal relationships. It's a difficult movie to watch at times, but, it is extremely well done accomplishment whatever the form.

* Some have mistakenly termed FLEE the first animated Documentary. There are others including the exceptional WALTZ WITH BASHIR which was nominated for Best Foreign Film in 2009. BASHIR also was set in the Middle East and included a bit of real documentary filmed footage (although significantly less than in FLEE)

Fleeing Taliban's Afghanistan in the latter part of the last century would seem the proper subject for film or video, capturing the reality of flight from oppression to freedom. Actually, in Flee, a documentary-animation with shades of color and earth tones works even better because the reality is in the narration of unspeakable horrors lived by protagonist Amin Nowabi at several stages of his life and experienced by the viewer not distracted by film's visual reality.

Amin's quarter-century friendship with director Jonas Poher Rasmussen helps him confess honestly to the single camera about long suppressed hurt. The animation objectively captures the pain he suffers recounting the journey to freedom and recapturing his love of life.

Young Amin travels with his mother, brother, and two sisters with unscrupulous traffickers and corrupt police for months to arrive in freedom physically and psychologically damaged, separated from each other for years to come. The narration is impeccably understated as it lets the story collect the audience's grief and pity out of the documentary's reality.

Amin's story moves from idyllic, brightly lit youthful days in Kabul (similarly sketched in Kenneth Branagh's recollection of his youth in Belfast) through the darkly harrowing journey on land and sea to land his life finally now in Copenhagen, buying a house, and coming out with his partner to family and the world in a salutary note of hope for refugees everywhere at any time. The price has been enormous in lost lives and lost youth.

All is not animation because interspersed is library footage of the Russian Afghanistan invasion and speeches by former President Mohammad Najibullah. Such reality checks make sure audience is not lulled into animation's chief compromiser-its own unreality.

Amin himself may be experiencing fictionalized reminiscence even though events seem to reflet a terror that did happen and can only be imagined years later.

Flee is a masterful amalgam of animation, real-live photography, and history recounted partially from a terrible journey's reality and a hero's struggling memory and imagination. You'll understand our collective confusion about Afghanistan and our abandoning it. You'll also understand if Flee is Oscar nominated in categories such as animation and international. It's all good.

Chronicling the harrowing journey of an Afghan immigrant and the unfathomable adversity he & his family had to navigate through to find a new home, Flee lends a powerful, heart-rending & thought-provoking perspective to the refugee experience through the first-hand account of its protagonist, and makes for a strongly moving documentary that's rendered on screen with care & consideration.

Written & directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, the film employs animation to narrate the life story of its protagonist who's been harbouring a secret he finally feels ready to reveal for the first time. The use of animation not only allows the director to sketch a stimulating portrait of the narrator's dark & traumatic past but also helps protect his real-world identity by keeping him & his family anonymous.

Though a work of rich, evocative animation for the most part, the film does make use of live-action archival footages sometimes to help ground our storyteller's testimony in reality. Add to that, the emotional wallop it provides only contributes to the film's overall bracing impact. But it's not all disturbing & distressing, for there lies his own coming-of-age story & his road to self-discovery which is beautifully illustrated.

Overall, Flee is an achingly human & emotionally stirring slice of life that's crafted with heart, told with compassion and has an apt understanding of its thematic content. Thoughtful in its approach and empathetic in its presentation, this Danish memoir is a gripping blend of artful animation & documentary realism, and definitely ranks amongst the most intimate, affecting, personal & profound films of 2021. Thoroughly recommended.

The partially animated documentary-story of a man who secretly escaped Afghanistan as a child.

I enjoyed this film more than I thought it would, and I am so happy to find that animation can succeed in this form of storytelling. Though the animation can be quite limited at times, it is more than adept and able to communicate the raw emotion behind many of the stories, maybe even more so than it's real-life counterparts could.

It is a film almost everyone should watch - just to see life through another person's eyes.

Denmark's official submission to 2022's Oscars is an amazing heartbreaking animated documentary. Its real story is extraordinary, sad, powerful and so moving. It's written brilliantly, with many deep lines. The animation is beautiful and original. I hope this film will get Oscar nominations for Best International Feature Film, Best Animation and Best Documentary.