Die Welt - is a new life out there?

If I’ve had two themes come through in multiple films that I've seen at EIFF, they are people trying to escape their country and people slightly adrift in the world, not sure where they fit in.  Perhaps I subconsciously chose films on similar lines, or maybe it is a reflection of the world at the moment.  Die Welt combines both of these as a young Tunisian comes to the decision for his life to start he needs to leave Tunisia, around the time of the recent revolution.

The film splits into two halves reflecting two different ways in which the character might reach his new life – the first lighter, funnier, more hopeful, but as that option seems to close on the central character, Abdallah, the film becomes slightly darker and atmospherically more desperate.  The first half was perhaps my favourite.  The camera work felt more energetic and the humour that infused this section was used really evocatively as well as entertaining.  There are some great monologues to camera, the opening one as Abdallah tries to convince a customer at his DVD store to buy something other than Transfomers 2 is a mini work of art on its own.

Director Alex Pitstra is Dutch, but his father is Tunisian and the film is reflective of his experiences in getting to know his Tunisian family and heritage. His life sits very much on the other side of the fence from Abdallah, but the film brings an interesting take on perceptions of Europe from those trying to reach it.  There is a sprawling cast but all the individual characters feel like they add up to a well-rounded whole.

Although I’m not 100% convinced the two halves fully melded together and that the tonal shift completely worked (if anything it was the carry over of some of the tone from the first half that made it feel slightly uncertain), Die Welt is definitely a very interesting and engaging film that feels like it opened a window on aspects of Tunisian life in a fresh way.