DHEEPAN
SPECIAL PRESENTATION D: Jacques Audiard. France. 114 min. Sep 11, 9 pm Elgin Sep 12, 8:30 am TIFF Bell Lightbox 1. See listings. Rating: NNNNN
Dheepan will strike a nerve not just for the many Tamils in Toronto, who will see shards (and open wounds) from their own lives reflected on screen, but also for all who share or empathize with the immigrant experience.
Audiard’s beautiful and furious story about three Tamil refugees posing as a family to escape Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war and build new lives in France understands displacement on a sensory level. Adjusting to new customs and languages feels like stumbling in the dark every face looks judgmental, suspicious or mocking the guilt for what was left behind lives deep inside and the longing for a home is hard-wired with a sense of defeat. The film also makes room for hope, humour and compassion.
The eponymous character (a revelatory performance by author Antonythasan Jesuthasan) is a former Tamil Tiger suffering from PTSD. The suburban apartment block where he and his makeshift family are dumped is the typical cauldron of poverty, crime and culture clashes. It’s Dheepan who boils over.