Dheepan - Brand New Trailer!
by Lee-Anne Powley
With current affairs as they are, a film centred on the plight of an asylum seeker is bound to be controversial. This is unsurprising though, given Jacques Audiard’s previous cinematic triumphs. This is not a man who shies away from controversy, and the results are well worth it.
Dheepan focuses on a Sri Laken freedom fighter who flees to France. He takes two strangers with him to pose as his wife and daughter, as this will help him achieve asylum in Europe (clever), and quickly gains employment as a caretaker on a run down estate. As the ‘family’ settles, however, it becomes clear that they have jumped from the frying pan into the fire. Violence is not restricted to war zones.
The film is subtitled, but anger, sadness and fear require no translation - their looks are universal. What is more, the setting is strangely familiar as well. It could easily be filmed on a British Council Estate. The youths in hoodies add to this uneasy realism, overall making an immigrant’s story far less alien than you might anticipate.
Powerful and evocative, Dheepan has already won several awards for it’s acting and screenplay. Set to hit our screens in a couple months, this film looks as though it is going to make some definite waves.
Dheepan is out 8th of April