Skip to main content

Beyond the Raging Sea review – cross-Atlantic rowing race likened to refugees’ ordeal

Two endurance sailors’ perilous voyage is supposed to lead them to empathy for refugees’ plight – but they sure take their time discovering that

Here is a well-intentioned but brief, unsatisfying and oddly structured documentary, supposedly about refugees and boat people … although the refugees’ experiences are only discussed in the final 10 minutes or so. The film is actually about two Egyptians, Omar Nour and Omar Samra, energetic and prosperous young entrepreneurs who in 2017, in a spirit of adventure, took on the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, a well-established annual endurance event with a good safety record in which participants journey in a rowing boat across the Atlantic from La Gomera in the Canaries to Antigua; it is a 3,000-nautical-mile, 40-day ordeal in treacherous seas.

After just nine days, these two guys got into terrible difficulties, perhaps as a result of their relative inexperience. Their craft capsized and they had to be dragged out of the water by a Greek cargo ship, a chaotic rescue that itself could have gone fatally wrong. It all sounds very tense, although as the two men are here being interviewed after the event, we know that they survived. So what was the point of this fiasco? Did they put their families and friends through an agony of worry, just for a macho ego trip? Well, around an hour in to this 70-minute film they tell us that they now appreciate the sufferings of boat people and refugees – some of whose testimonies are duly tacked on to the end of the film.

Continue reading...

from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2gJ6s93
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Miracle Club review – Maggie Smith can’t save this rocky road trip to Lourdes

Laura Linney is upstaged by older co-stars Smith and Kathy Bates in this sentimental tale about a group of Dublin women who go on a spiritual journey together Who’s up for a golden-hued heartwarmer set in 60s Ireland starring Kathy Bates and Maggie Smith about women with secret fears and dreams going on a church trip to Lourdes and finally finding the real miracle is their new compassion for each other? The answer to this question could well have been … me. I have a liking for a gentle tale and there is nothing necessarily wrong with, just occasionally, showing Ireland and the church of this period with something other than outrage and horror. But The Miracle Club does not at any time, to use a discredited metaphor, throw away its crutches and walk. And it’s painful to note that this is largely because of the way film can’t convincingly use that estimable actor Laura Linney in a central role. She is upstaged by the older, fruitier performances and doesn’t hold her own with a more seri...
Post a Comment
Read more

Omen (Augure) review – Baloji offers secrets and sorcery in Congolese homecoming

Musician and film-maker’s story about a Belgian-Congolese man who takes his white wife to DRC to meet the family is complex, risky and bold Congolese-born rapper, musician and film-maker Baloji (né Serge Baloji Tshiani) was a prizewinner at Cannes last year with this feature directing debut: a dynamic, teemingly populated, multistranded and tonally elusive picture which I initially thought would benefit from comparisons with Jordan Peele’s horror classic Get Out. In fact, it’s more complicated than that. Koffi (Marc Zinga) is a Congolese man living in Belgium and married to a white woman, Alice (Lucie Debay). They are about to have twins and Koffi feels that he cannot put it off any further: whatever his family will think, the couple must journey back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to let them see Alice and let them get used to the idea. It particularly means propitiating his fiercely conservative mother Mujila (Yves-Marina Gnahoua). He takes care to shave off his westernis...
Post a Comment
Read more

REVEALED: Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions merges Dharmatic Entertainment to simplify operations

Dharmatic Entertainment, the digital arm of Dharma Productions, has now officially merged with its parent company, as per a recent article in The Economic Times. The story says that the move is part of Dharma’s plan “to consolidate operations amid the changing entertainment landscape”. It also said that the merger application was fast-tracked and has already been approved by both companies’ shareholders and creditors, according to official filings. This is one of Dharma Productions’ first big steps since entrepreneur Adar Poonawalla bought a 50% stake in the company for Rs. 1,000 crores last year, valuing Dharma at Rs. 2,000 crores. Another significant decision taken by Dharma head-honcho after the merger was to start a distribution arm. In a recent interview with Komal Nahta, KJo confessed that the partnership with Adar Poonawalla gave him the impetus to get into distribution. The Economic Times article further revealed that the amalgamation of Dharmatic Entertainment and Dharma Pro...
Post a Comment
Read more