What does the word "home" mean to you?

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's top 50 films of 2022

#4 :  Flugt (Flee)

Distinctive fusion of documentary and animation from Danish film-maker Jonas Poher Rasmussen, outlining the journey and heartache of a gay Afghan man living in Copenhagen, having left his home country as a 10-year-old.

I've heard this is good and know it's to do with asylum and it's animated, but apart from that I'm pretty much in the dark.

Yeah, it's an interesting one.  It's presented as a interview with Amin as he tells his story of how he got from his childhood in Kabul to his relatively normal and ostensibly happy present day circumstances in Copenhagen.  It's part therapy session, part documentary - mostly animated, but mixed in with home video and news footage.  And it's a fascinating story which makes you really appreciate the easy life you have - and that's as much as I feel the need to tell you.

The animation is very well done with a variety of styles being used to represent different phases of his life or different levels of peril/trauma he's facing.  And there's quite some peril/trauma, I can tell you - the film has plenty of interesting points to make on the effects of trauma (some more successfully than others).  They also make some interesting choices with the animation eg they include the clapperboards in the interview sections, but animate them.  It's a simplistic comparison to make (animated, foreign, refugee), but I was reminded of Persepolis at various points - if you like that, there's a strong chance you'll like this (and vice versa).  Waltz With Bashir is another comparison that Wikipedia offers which I can quite agree with.

Looking at Wikipedia, the story behind the film is even more complex than the film portrays - Amin is a real person and has known Jonas Poher Rasmussen, the director, since they were both teenagers.  And some of the story that comes out in the film isn't something that Amin has ever told anyone - including his partner, Jasper, who's also in the film.  Which must have resulted in some interesting discussions, but hopefully it was a therapeutic exercise for all involved.  Wikipedia also tells me that it's got an interesting couple of executive producers on board - Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jamie Lannister in Game Of Thrones - who worked for free because he admired the film so much).

It doesn't really feel like I can say this is an enjoyable film, but it's certainly a good film.  It's a very worthy and admirable film telling a complex story in a clever, understandable and beautiful way but it never feels like it's lecturing you.  Personally, I would have liked to spend a bit more time with present-day Amin but there's only so much time available and decisions have to be made that not everyone will agree with.  Lots of people also won't want to watch a film featuring a gay refugee - but they're exactly the sort of people who should be watching it to see if it doesn't make them feel the tiniest bit "woke".  At time of writing, it's available to rent in all the usual places and I think it should be prescribed viewing.

#5 - An odd one
#3 - Not sure about this one