A review of the new Danish film “Flee”
Animated films for adults can deal with difficult issues in a powerful way. This was true of the French “Persepolis” (2007), which looked at life in Iran, and the Israeli “Waltz With Bashir” (2008), which depicted war in Lebanon.
Now (2021) we have a Danish animated feature which, like the other films mentioned, tells a true story, this time the experience of a refugee from Afghanistan who, travelling via Russia and Estonia, eventually reaches freedom in Denmark. As well as the trauma of this journey, he has to come to terms with his sexuality.
This remarkable tale comes to us as a result of the childhood friendship of the Danish Jonas Poher Rasmussen, who directed and co-wrote the film, and the Afghan Amin Nawabi (not his real name), the co-writer of his own story.
The style of animation is very different from Disney or anime; it is pencil-sketch outlines with minimal colour and for this disturbing subject it works very effectively bringing home via one person’s narrative something of the terror of the refugee experience more widely.