Born in the northwest province of Pakistan, Jamal and a fellow refugee Enayatullah are young Afghan refugees seeking asylum in the UK and the subjects of Michael Winterbottom's compelling and all too relevant recent feature. Joining the ranks of the one million refugees per year who place their lives in the hands of refugee smugglers, the film follows Jamal and Enayatullah as they set out to travel overland to London, passing through Iran, Turkey, Italy and France, in a journey which is so arduous and life threatening that one is constantly aware of the desperation that lies behind it. Winterbottom and writer Tony Grisoni manage to strike a fine balance between the fictional and documentary elements of the film, harnessing the intimate and immediate possibilities of DV production. Even more crucially, through the individual stories, they allow us to peer behind the headlines at the human story and the broader political and moral concerns at stake. Please visit the Guardian Unlimited web site to learn more about Michael Winterbottom's experience and the making of the film.
Winner of the 2003 Golden Berlin Bear for Best Film

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