Starring Sidse Babett Knudsen, Kenneth Collard, Amir El-Masry, Kais Nashef. Directed by Ben Sharrock.
Limbo features a very interesting lesson in its viewing: no matter what, you absolutely must finish the film to fully appreciate what you’ve seen.
The main thrust of Ben Sharrock’s comedy-drama is a tale about four Asylum seekers, left adrift in a remote Scottish island while they wait to be processed.
The main focus of the film is really Amir El-Masry as Omar, a downbeat Asylum seeker who spends most of the film carrying an instrument he refuses to play. We learn as the film goes on that seeking Asylum in the UK was not really his choice but he had no other one.
In a time when Nigel Farage spends his days on the shore screaming lies about immigrants, this is a film that puts a human face to them. There are no five star hotels, no big pay packages that your great aunt on Facebook would have you believe is happening, the classes the refugees take seem pointless and borderline insulting, and the houses they’re put in just horrid.
With an eye to this realism it takes a while for Sharrock to really play his hand at what this film is, but by the end you realise it’s odd mix of offbeat comedy and moments of true painful human drama have come together to create quite an enjoyable time. That it also has something to say only adds to the feeling that this isn’t just a film about “funny people with accents”, it’s a message.
El-Masry manages to hold the film well, given that his role as Omar isn’t particularly charismatic, or verbal most of the time, but the film and the actor understand that for many seeking asylum, keeping your head down and your mouth shut might be the only way to survive. There is also a truly moving scene involving the discovery of a body that is haunting in its frankness.
By the film’s close, you realise that it has worked its charm on you, and you’ve started rooting for Omar to find his sense of self. It’s not a film that’s particularly easy to like, if you’re not in on the indie spirit it can be quite alienating, but as a film that deals with a current issue in the UK and does so with respect, this is every bit as urgent as a Ken Loach movie; there’s also a funny bit with a cockerel.
