In This World

The final proof, if any more were needed, of Michael Winterbottom's extraordinary talent and deeply diverse tastes as a filmmaker comes with the affecting In This World. A sort of pseudo-documentary, In This World was shot on digital video by the director himself and traces the path that two young refugees, 16-year-old Jamal and his older cousin Enayatullah, take in order to fashion a better life for themselves away from their homeland of Afghanistan. Having escaped from a detention centre, the two young men attempt to find a way to Britain, believing that life is infinitely better over there. And even if the streets aren't paved with gold in London, life in Britain, they reckon, certainly can't be much worse than the daily grind that they are currently enduring.

A tough, abrasive yet extremely timely movie, In This World is an burning examination of the refugee situation, with a strong emphasis on improvisation and realism as the two young men have to bet everything that they will make it to London, while dealing with the fact that most of the people they are encounter on their way are out to betray them. For a movie styled like a documentary, Winterbottom remarkably never appears to be too invasive with his camera, and he certainly doesn't try to direct his actors to adhere to conventional expressions of emotion, which would sell this grim but sharply made and affecting movie short.