The Eleven Films About Refugees You Need To See
They're less depressing than the real thing.
The Pirogue (2012)
This film should be mandatory viewing for every Australian: Senegalese director Moussa Touré’s drama humanises boat people and people smugglers like no other. A reluctant fisherman (Souleymane Seye N’diaye) is hired to take a ragtag group of desperate souls to a new life in Spain across the North Atlantic in a nerve-wrackingly small and ill-equipped boat (the pirogue of the title).
Touré says he was influenced by Master and Commander, and it shows in the simple but taut narrative and excellent visual use of confined space. As the brave captain and his charges face danger and diminishing hope on the high seas, it’s impossible not to feel for the thousands who attempt such odysseys in real life every year, with tragedy often the result.
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Jim Poe is a writer, DJ, and editor based in Sydney. He tweets from@fivegrand1.