by Foster Harlfinger, Contributing Writer
Flee, Denmark’s submission for Best International Feature at this year’s Academy Awards, could make history as the first film nominated for Best International Feature Film, Best Documentary Feature, and Best Animated Feature. The film tells the true story of Amin, a young boy with a penchant for ‘80s pop music and Jean-Claude Van Damme, who is forced to flee from his home country of Afghanistan as a result of Russian occupation and the Taliban takeover.
Though the film’s evocative animation style is striking, it only serves to amplify the horror, pain, beauty, and heartbreak present within Amin’s harrowing story. While you can watch Flee and appreciate its artful animation as an inspired artistic choice, you will gradually come to the painful realization that the film’s animation was hardly a choice at all. Rather, it was out of necessity in order to hide the identity of the real-life Amin, whose name and whereabouts have been changed in order to protect his identity.
Flee rides on the power of Amin’s story, which increases in emotional complexity with each successive scene. Hoping to take refuge in Sweden, Amin and his family had no choice but to remain in Russia for five years under the constant threat of violence and deportation from the police. And through it all, Amin struggled with his identity as a gay man in time and place where staying silent about his homosexuality was not a choice as much as it was a matter of personal safety.
At age 15, Amin was finally able to settle down in Denmark, though the circumstances were hardly ideal given that he had to leave his family in the process. Throughout the film, director Jonas Poher Rasmussen cuts to occasional moments of real-life footage in which you are reminded that the lovingly animated story unfolding before your eyes belongs to a very real person. Flee employs an intriguing bookend structure in which we hear from an adult Amin, now a successful academic on the verge of marriage, as he recounts his story for Rasmussen’s film. Though it is not lighthearted by any stretch, Flee contains several moments of surprising and much-appreciated humor over the course of its 90 minute runtime, including a genius bait-and-switch in the third act of the film which is clever, humorous, and moving.
Flee marks yet another wonderfully unique and critically acclaimed entry in the production company NEON’s filmography this year along with Pig, Titane, The Worst Person in the World, and Spencer, to name a few. For a company founded in 2017, NEON has quickly established itself as a major awards season player, particularly in the international film market. Though it may not be the pick-me-up many audience members hope to gain from their moviegoing ventures, Flee is unique, moving, passionately made, and absolutely worthy of your time.
Grade: A-
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