Journey of Hope

Winner of last year's Oscar for Best Foreign Film, writer-director Xavier Koller's Journey of Hope is a powerful, and gorgeously shot, tale of dashed dreams based on a true story. Haydar and Meryem, a Kurdish couple struggling on a farm in Southeast Turkey, together with their seven children, decide to strike out for greener pastures when word comes from Haydar's brother Cemal that Switzerland is a "paradise" on Earth. Selling their possessions, the couple make arrangements to emigrate illegally to Switzerland and pay an outrageous sum for the passports and transportation necessary for the journey. The children are left in the care of Haydar's parents, except for young Mehmet Ali, who is chosen to accompany the parents after Meryem insists that at least one of their children come along. Unfortunately, Mehmet Ali's presence ultimately creates an escalating series of problems for the couple beginning with the fact that he has no passport, and ending with a heartrending trek across the Swiss mountains in the dark and murderous cold. The persistence of dreams in the face of callous smugglers, overwhelming natural barriers, and the sheer confusion of the unknown, is the inspirational subtext of this often absorbing film. Although predictable, and occasionally bogged down by melodramatic symbolism, Journey of Hope is for the most part realistic and sometimes quite moving (especially in its wrenching conclusion). Though not in a class with recent Best Foreign Film winners (Pelle the Conqueror (1988), Cinema Paradiso (1989)), it is very accessible to general audiences. Recommended. (R. Pitman)