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In This World

The journey to freedom has no borders.

2003 · 1h 28m · R Drama
Directed by Michael Winterbottom

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Overview

Torn straight from the headlines, Michael Winterbottom's compelling and prescient 'In This World' follows young Afghan Jamal and his older cousin Enayat as they embark on a hazardous overland trip from their refugee camp at Peshawar, north-west Pakistan. Entering Turkey on foot through a snowy, Kurdish-controlled pass, the pair again take their lives into their hands and face suffocation when they are locked in a freight container on a ship bound for Italy. From there they plan to travel on to Paris, the Sangatte refuge centre and ultimately asylum in London.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
Fresh

Puts something like a personal face on what is so often rendered merely as an abstract statistic: the plight of the contemporary refugee in a violently 'globalized' world.

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star
Rotten

Although the story told is of vital importance, the manner of the telling robs us of the appropriate emotional response.

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail
Fresh

Without an ounce of phony Hollywood uplift, Winterbottom's film cuts right to the heart.

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Rotten

In This World leaves us with little more than 'Tsk, tsk.'

Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic
Fresh

In This World is not a facile entertainment, but a prescribed cure for one's compassion fatigue.

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

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