Following a Refugee Story That Started in the ’80s as Many New Ones Are Beginning

“Flee” is the true story of a refugee named Amin Nawabi who fled from Afghanistan following the Mujahedin takeover of his country in the 1980s. It is an intimate film that resonates painfully in light of last year’s American withdrawal from Afghanistan — and the recent wave of refugees fleeing war-torn Ukraine. The same types of ideologies that Mr. Nawabi escaped from are again ascendant in his home nation, with the Taliban takeover unleashing a renewed theocratic fascism. In the 1980s he fled to post-Soviet Russia, a corrupt and brutal country that today is of course waging an unjust war in Ukraine. It is hard to imagine how many people are now suffering in ways like Mr. Nawabi did.His journey reads like a walking tour of the late 20th century political events. His family experienced the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the fall of the Soviet Union, and the first foreshadowing moments of the war on terror. He was able to eventually overcome his challenges. The film follows his life through his doctoral studies at Princeton and eventual marriage to his husband in Copenhagen. It never fails to impress the unstated pain that he has bottled up throughout his life, burying the reality that his home was destroyed by the rise of Islamic radicalism and his family was displaced by human trafficking. What makes “Flee” most interesting is the humanity of Mr. Nawabi’s story. The film uses its visual style as a tool to express powerful images of his experiences. A combination of rotoscope-like animation and eight millimeter archival film paints the worlds to and from which he escaped. The animation beautifully captures the terror and scale of his life, while the live action footage reminds us that these are all real events that people lived through. The animation serves a double purpose of giving the animators a chance to craft powerful expressionistic images while also protecting the identities of many individuals involved. The movie makes it clear that many of them would get in trouble with the law for illegally residing in Europe. Mr. Nawabi and his family were a middle class, liberal, and somewhat secular family living in Kabul. Unlike many, they were able to afford a commercial flight out of Afghanistan before the worst of the fighting destroyed their home. He was eventually separated from his mother and siblings by human traffickers, who smuggled them to separate countries in Europe. The movie doesn’t pull punches. Their relatable status brings close to home how easy it is for the place you call home to be consumed by war and hatred. “Flee” condemns the casual cruelty of western governments toward the poor and needy and shows the human trafficking industry to be just as cruel and abusive. It also condemns the brutality of Afghanistan’s theocracy and the cruelty and corruption of post-Soviet Russia. There is no single villain to this story. Mr. Nawabi’s story shows all of this from the perspective of a confused gay adolescent caught between the gears of history. The movie begins and ends with a reflection on what the concept of home means, as he observes that his home was uprooted so many times that he didn’t really have one for decades. The film ends with Mr. Nawabi and his husband buying a new home together. He has in some way come full circle. Produced in part by the online publication Vice, “Flee” has earned its three Academy Awards nominations for best documentary feature, best international feature film, and best animated feature. The awards ceremony is slated for March 27.

Following a Refugee Story That Started in the ’80s as Many New Ones Are Beginning

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