tieman64 Michael Winterbottom's "In This World" follows two Afghan refugees, 16-year-old Jamal and older cousin Enayatullah, on their trek from Pakistan to England in search of "freedom" and a "better life". Like Winterbottom's "The Road To Guantanamo", "World's" fiction but masquerades as a fly-on-the-wall documentary, the director using digital cameras, jagged editing and various cinema verite techniques to achieve a sense of unfolding reality. Despite its grungy aesthetic, though, the film hopes to tell a rather epic tale. Like characters out of a John Huston movie, our heroes are a couple of guys whose dreams represent the aspirations of their war-torn community. Displaced from their homeland by American and Soviet Union war machines, Jamal and his cousin begin their tale in the Shamshatoo refugee camps (which houses about 58,000 refugees), where it is revealed that they earn a dollar a day at a local brick factory. Seeking a better life, the duo thus embark on a quest. They journey westward, overcoming various obstacles and becoming embroiled in all manners of subplots, most notably the smuggling business and underground sweatshops, all of which conspire to exploit the miseries of refugees. The majority of Winterbottom's films lean heavily to the left, the director revoking complexity in favour for old fashioned Oliver Stone or Ken Loach styled sermonising. Here he has his heroes travelling from Istanbul to Trieste to Paris and eventually to London, but his intention is not only to show how warmongering displaces individuals from their homes and families, but to map an entire network of exploitation which has sprung up to fill the void left by the West's mushroom clouds. Bombs fall, this film says, and then an entire spider-web springs up to further exploit and ensnare those who survive the blasts. Incidentally, talks to build the TAPI pipeline, a pipeline planned in the mid 90s to transport Caspian Sea natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and then to the Indian coast, have (at least for the time being) been abandoned. In 1998, John J. Maresca, vice president of international relations for UNOCAL oil company, told Congress that the pipeline "is not going to be built until there is a single Afghan government."The West's invasion of Afganistan, its demonizing of the Taliban (whom the US once supported/built and who have no connection to 9/11 nor to the 300 or so Al Qaeda "terrorists" supposedly in Afganistan), its desire to install a puppet government and keep the country destabilised, were all done for old fashioned Colonial reasons: the implementation of a new "silk route" designed to prevent Iran, Russia and China from controlling Central Asia's vast energy resources. Unfortunately for the West, things did not go as planned. At the end of 2009, a crucial stretch of pipeline officially went into operation linking the energy-rich state of Turkmenistan (via Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan) to Xinjiang Province in China's far west. With this action, China unofficially superseded the US as the world's chief superpower. Instead of spending more than a trillion dollars on an illegal war or setting up military bases all over the Greater Middle East and Centra Asia, China, whose economy is increasingly thirsty, used its state oil companies to get some of the energy it needed simply by bidding for it in a perfectly legal Iraqi oil auction. Meanwhile, in the New Great Game in Eurasia, China had the good sense not to send soldiers anywhere or get bogged down in an infinite quagmire in Afghanistan. Instead, the Chinese simply made a direct commercial deal with Turkmenistan and, profiting from that country's disagreements with Moscow, built itself a pipeline which will provide much of the natural gas it needs. And while the West has been slamming Iran with sanctions, embargoes, and blockades, Iran has been slowly evolving as a crucial trade corridor for China, as well as Russia and energy-poor India.No wonder the Obama administration's Eurasian energy czar, Richard Morningstar, was forced to admit at a congressional hearing that the US can no longer compete with China when it comes to Central Asia's energy wealth. If only he had delivered the same message to the Pentagon. But what do Jamal and Enayatullah care? They made it out of the Middle East, escaped the global chessboard and are now living in the land of the free. Or so they think.8/10 – Winterbottom's low budgets and extraordinarily fast shooting times generally dictate that his films don't provide much to chew on once the initial impact fades. Cinema verite has alway sacrificed nuance and complexity for the pretence of realism. Worth one viewing.

Jugu Abraham Michael Winterbottom, I thought, was a director worth watching (I had seen his film "Jude") but I was sorely disappointed with this film that was bestowed with a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film festival--a festival that often picks up fine cinema for its honors. I saw "In this world" at the on-going Dubai international film festival expecting to see top-notch cinema. Instead of great cinema, I saw a film that flounders in its effort to capture reality. Winterbottom and cinematographer Marcel Zyskind capture young faces and their action creditably (the young sibling who follows his brother as he leaves the refugee camp) at times and then slip up to the most shoddy camera-work soon after (local Pakistanis staring at the camera, shadows of vehicles carrying camera equipment on road sequences). The film attempts to capture fiction in a documentary style. The effort is commendable but the outcome is at best an average effort at highlighting the problem of refugees. The film begins with statements on the ration provided to refugees. A great beginning with shots of a real refugee camp. Then I was appalled to see shots of women dancers being showered with currency notes and a gruesome sacrifice/killing of an ox--sequences that add no value to the rest of the film. What is the film trying to state? Refugees are in a bad shape and they need to escape. Is Winterbottom suggesting that those who succeed are heroes and those who do not are tragic figures? Is he trying to make a statement on cultural values across borders?I feel Winterbottom could have served better purpose if he had retained the elements of documentary and discussed the problems of refugees than dramatize the journey itself. If he wanted to dramatize the journey--what are the shots of the dancing women doing here?Berlin has made a wrong choice--not that Winterbottom lacks in talent. But this is mixed-up cinema

philip-ct This film deserves a wide audience - and we are constantly reminded what or who is in this world, and what that entails. The story line is simple: two Afghan refugees, dispossessed in their land, struggling to survive (on 1 US $ a day, search for new life in a promised land - either the United Kingdom (London) or the USA.We are all aware of the prejudice meted out to those of middle Eastern descent by the leaders of these 'first world countries'; we are also aware that war and the rampage of war leads to dog-eats-dog scenario.Without preaching, the director takes us (through an involvement with the young leads, apparently not trained actors) through this world, moving from Afghanistan, to the East (Iran, Pakistan), and landing in Europe (Turkey, Italy, England).What struck me throughout was the single-mindedness displayed by the younger actors, as they have to cope with a world at once alien and familiar to them. There are moments of intense kindness by strangers, balanced by the manipulation of others who are motivated by greed and an unempathetic bureaucracy too.Acting is naturalistic: there are some brilliant cameo shots - and Winterbottom has achieved a Herculean task; the film comes across as a real, hands-on documentary that is unscripted, and where events unfold before one's eyes.Aided by voice-overs and a montage of black and white images, this has a feel of historic truth, a sense of actuality about it. I was moved by this film, totally. It is a cry from the director's soul, and (unfortunately) won't reach the people it should. Refreshing, sensitive and an absolute must-see.

Furuya Shiro I thought the mini-theater would be virtually empty, but it was so crowded that they had to bring some additional chairs. I was surprised knowing so many people wanted to know what was exactly happening in Afghanistan or Afghan people. Surely, the audiences, including myself, have known the facts only this kind of media can tell. There is no future in Afghan refugee camps. Grownups want to give their boys a chance to grab the future, and render them to people smugglers. Their journey to London is full of danger. They are handed from a smuggler to another. Particularly the younger boy shows good head and daring, which eventually do not pay off. Such illegal immigration is happening anywhere in this world. This film raises the subject with the power only films can have.