We collect cookies to analyze our website traffic and performance; we never collect any personal data. Cookie Policy
Accept
NEW YORK DAWN™NEW YORK DAWN™NEW YORK DAWN™
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
  • Home
  • Trending
  • New York
  • World
  • Politics
  • Business
    • Business
    • Economy
    • Real Estate
  • Crypto & NFTs
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Art
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
Reading: ‘Flee’ Review: From Kabul to Copenhagen
Share
Font ResizerAa
NEW YORK DAWN™NEW YORK DAWN™
Search
  • Home
  • Trending
  • New York
  • World
  • Politics
  • Business
    • Business
    • Economy
    • Real Estate
  • Crypto & NFTs
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
    • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Art
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
Follow US
NEW YORK DAWN™ > Blog > Entertainment > ‘Flee’ Review: From Kabul to Copenhagen
‘Flee’ Review: From Kabul to Copenhagen
Entertainment

‘Flee’ Review: From Kabul to Copenhagen

Last updated: December 2, 2021 5:09 pm
Editorial Board Published December 2, 2021
Share
SHARE
02flee review1 facebookJumbo

“Home — what does it mean to you?” That’s the question that hovers over “Flee,” Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s piercing animated documentary about a high school friend of his who emigrated from Afghanistan to Denmark as a teenager.

For reasons that become clear in the course of the film, the friend — now a grown man with a solid relationship and a flourishing academic career — is given a pseudonym. He’s called Amin, and the animation adds a further layer of protection. But the voice that tells the story belongs to him, and the story itself is filtered through painful memories that he has kept to himself for a long time.

At the start of the movie, Amin lies on his back with his eyes closed as Rasmussen prepares to film, a setup that suggests a cartoon version of psychoanalysis. And while the narrative moves mostly in a straight line, it also doubles back and encounters obstacles, proceeding into the past by means of association, indirection and the overcoming of repressed knowledge. That creates not only suspense, as we wonder what will happen to Amin and his family, but also a powerful feeling of intimacy. “Flee” may be about a pressing global issue — the plight of refugees displaced by war and other emergencies since at least the 1980s — but it’s also about a specific person’s life.

The first home Amin remembers is in Kabul. As the youngest of five children — their father was a military officer — Amin watched as the Soviet-backed government in Afghanistan gave way to the American-financed Mujahedeen. The conflict is depicted in live-action news footage and also in shadowy, almost abstract black-and-white images. The politics are less important than the confusion and trauma a child experiences as his world unravels. Amin’s father is arrested and his older brother narrowly escapes being conscripted.

Another brother lives in Sweden, and the rest of the family relies on his help once they flee to Moscow. Russia is home for a while, but after 1989 it becomes an increasingly treacherous place, a land of poverty, corruption and brutal weather. Scandinavia seems more promising, but getting there is expensive and dangerous, and requires some agonizing choices.

From the start, we know that Amin made it safely to Copenhagen. His reminiscences are interwoven with scenes from his adult life. He’s about to take up a postdoc at Princeton, and he and his fiancé, Jasper, are thinking about buying a house. “Flee” acknowledges Amin’s good fortune — and offers quiet testimony to the decency and generosity of Danish society — while also reckoning with what it cost him.

Less a sociological case study than a psychological portrait, the film is both probing and tactful. The fact that it arose out of Rasmussen’s friendship with Amin creates a feeling of trust. The director is receptive to Amin’s secrets and aware of the nuances of his personality. As much as “Flee” is a refugee’s tale of flight and eventual settling, it’s also a coming-out story, and as such a complex reflection on different forms of outsiderhood.

To be an immigrant in Denmark and a gay man in Afghanistan are hardly equivalent, but the nuances of both experiences yield some touching, surprising and funny moments. Amin discovers his sexuality via a fascination with the Belgian action star Jean-Claude Van Damme, whom he imagines winking at him from a poster on his bedroom wall in Kabul. Later, Amin experiences a brief, powerful crush on a fellow migrant during one of the legs of his journey.

The animation suffuses “Flee” with a strangeness that a conventional documentary might not possess, and that perhaps mirrors Amin’s own alienation. He isn’t unhappy, but his features seem shrouded in melancholy, a condition Rasmussen addresses with sympathy rather than sentimentality. Luck and loss can’t be disentangled, and that may be the meaning of home that this patient, humane film arrives at.

Flee
Rated PG-13. Danger and sorrow. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. In theaters.

You Might Also Like

Embeth Davidtz has all the time been soft-spoken. Stepping up as a director, she determined to roar

‘The dreamiest boss of all time’: Olivia Rodrigo paid for crew’s remedy whereas on tour

The week’s bestselling books, July 13

Why Parker McCollum’s new nation album may be the most effective he’ll ever make

Maggie Q brings the warmth to chilly instances in ‘Ballard,’ a ‘Bosch’ spinoff sequence

TAGGED:Copenhagen (Denmark)Documentary Films and ProgramsFlee (Movie)Homosexuality and BisexualityImmigration and EmigrationKabul (Afghanistan)Rasmussen, Jonas PoherRefugees and Displaced PersonsThe Washington Mail
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Email Print

Follow US

Find US on Social Medias
FacebookLike
TwitterFollow
YoutubeSubscribe
TelegramFollow
Popular News
Native bookstores, dealt one other blow by L.A. fires, turn into ‘group touchstones’
Entertainment

Native bookstores, dealt one other blow by L.A. fires, turn into ‘group touchstones’

Editorial Board February 6, 2025
Aubrey Plaza says husband’s dying was an ‘unimaginable tragedy’
Gunfire Rattles Burkina Faso’s Capital as Soldiers Revolt
Sophie Calle Is Each Exhibitionist and Voyeur
A single enzymatic change steers cell destiny in intestinal regeneration

You Might Also Like

Scheming roomies Danny DeVito and Charlie Day on 20 years of ‘It is At all times Sunny in Philadelphia’
Entertainment

Scheming roomies Danny DeVito and Charlie Day on 20 years of ‘It is At all times Sunny in Philadelphia’

July 9, 2025
Violinist has the world on 2 strings
Entertainment

Violinist has the world on 2 strings

July 9, 2025
Jewel Thais-Williams, founding father of beloved Black queer nightclub Jewel’s Catch One, dies at 86
Entertainment

Jewel Thais-Williams, founding father of beloved Black queer nightclub Jewel’s Catch One, dies at 86

July 9, 2025
‘Girlfriends’ celebrates its 25-year anniversary with a free artwork exhibit in L.A.
Entertainment

‘Girlfriends’ celebrates its 25-year anniversary with a free artwork exhibit in L.A.

July 9, 2025

Categories

  • Health
  • Sports
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Technology
  • World
  • Art

About US

New York Dawn is a proud and integral publication of the Enspirers News Group, embodying the values of journalistic integrity and excellence.
Company
  • About Us
  • Newsroom Policies & Standards
  • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Careers
  • Media & Community Relations
  • Accessibility Statement
Contact Us
  • Contact Us
  • Contact Customer Care
  • Advertise
  • Licensing & Syndication
  • Request a Correction
  • Contact the Newsroom
  • Send a News Tip
  • Report a Vulnerability
Term of Use
  • Digital Products Terms of Sale
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Settings
  • Submissions & Discussion Policy
  • RSS Terms of Service
  • Ad Choices
© 2024 New York Dawn. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?