HOPE Documentary

Feature article from 'The Age':

Excerpts from letters & emails received after the premiere of 'Hope' at the Melbourne International Film Festival

"In an age in which every second film is defined as 'must-see', in which most cinematic experiences are 'enriching' and 'inspirational', Hope would be cheapened by association with such words. A pity; they would otherwise be apt."

"Seeing HOPE I wept: the extraordinary Amal deserved just such a testament."

"We expected to come away shamed once again by our country's attitude towards people who come here looking for protection, and while that shame remains we found ourselves marvelling instead at Amal's beautiful life, at someone whose generous spirit seemed able to transcend her circumstances."

"Whilst resonating with sadness and loss, Hope is an ultimately redemptive documentary."

"Hope is the best type of documentary: activist without being preachy; simple without lacking complexity; effective - staggeringly so - without being gimmicky. It commanded - and rewarded - my whole attention."

"The scenes in Indonesia were among the most moving and the connection between the silver haired Australian and the feisty Iraqi woman desperate to get her story told became more and more compelling as the film went on."

"The film stayed with me all weekend, and I think that makes it really special."

"There are moments in the film when our hands find our mouths and our breathing stops: we might not expect that the lives of people fleeing persecution turn to bliss as soon as they're granted a visa, but even still, it doesn't seem 'fair' that someone of Amal's basic human goodness must fight the battles she's asked to fight."

"Although others had told the story of the SIEV X, Amal's story was hers alone and she wanted it told her way. Amazingly, HOPE is Amal's film as much as the filmmakers'; it's suffused with her presence, will and charisma."

"I spent my time at film school trying to remove myself from my films. Thank you for opening my eyes."

"The hope of Hope is that stories such as Amal's will continue to be told - not for the sake of telling - but in the hope that through their telling something might change - if not today, then maybe tomorrow."

Awards

'Hope' is a finalist in the Australian Teachers of Media 2008 Enhance TV ATOM Awards in the category of
'Best Documentary – Social & Political Issues'. The ATOM Awards will be presented at the Regent Theatre, Melbourne on 24th October.

Amal in English means 'Hope' - Review by Russell Marks

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the boat carrying Amal from Indonesia sank on its way to Australia.

"After half an hour, everything silent," Amal recalls. "Big wave push me up, from my son, to other side. And I still remember, my son, he told me: 'Mum, maybe I see you in paradise." She clung for twenty hours to the body of a passenger who had drowned, waiting to be rescued.

This is not a fable, barely remembered from a distant time. The year was 2001, the month October; the world had already changed, and amid the carnage of global events, the sinking of Amal's little boat might have passed unnoticed, or unremembered.

But unnoticed it could not go. The sinking of Amal Basry's boat was confirmed as the worst maritime disaster in waters surrounding Australia since the second World War - the worst, because of the 398 people on board, 353 drowned.

Now, Steve Thomas has made a film - not about the sinking, at least not directly, but about Amal, and what happened after. He met Amal at a fundraising dinner for refugees at which she was the guest speaker, and convinced her to allow him to digicam her life.

Hope premiered to a sold-out session at this year's Melbourne International Film Festival. It's essentially an edited documentary record of a developing friendship between filmmaker and subject, beginning as formal interviews which gradually blend into an organic bond.

"I could never imagine that someday I escape from my country," says Amal. "We were very happy. We were very rich. But Saddam regime damage our life."

There are moments in the film when our hands find our mouths and our breathing stops. Struggle becomes the prime motif of Amal's life, and, by extension, the film. In Australia, where 'fair' is central to our imagined identities, Amal's story is one of those awkward exceptions that have us squirming at its selectivity and hypocrisy. Maybe 'fair' doesn't really exist here.

The Australian government gave Amal's boat a name - SIEV-X - which has become iconic in activist and informed circles but, evidential of Australia's polarised polity, there are plenty who've never heard it spoken. The precise details surrounding the sinking of 'Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel - Unknown' are largely unknown themselves, at least publicly.

Whether some or all of the 353 could have been saved by Australian or Indonesian authorities quickly became a matter of contention. Survivors unanimously recall seeing lights from at least two ships that passed very close to them during the night. "Can I talk about that, the night I saw three lights?" Amal asks Steve. "Or it's not good to say that. Because the Australian government, they don't like me to say that." She shrugs. "They don't like."

Hope is the best type of documentary: activist without being preachy; simple without lacking complexity; effective - staggeringly so - without being gimmicky. It is blessed with a truly cinematic subject; it commanded - and rewarded - my whole attention. As Amal never sinks into a powerless victimhood (though she would have every right to do so), the film itself retains the essential optimism of her character.

"These people had an objective to get to safety, to Australia, to paradise," says Kate Durham, a Melbourne artist who was inspired to paint a separate tile for each of the 353 people who drowned. "That's what they thought. They didn't get paradise. They didn't get even halfway across the ocean. They were just punished for their hope. It was their hope, in a sense, that drowned them."

It is perhaps fitting that Amal in English means 'Hope'.

Reviews from the Australian Cinema Season of Hope

Review in the Herald Sun 20/6/08:

Quote: "A moving and inspirational documentary… A tender tale of how dreams of a better future can overcome the nightmares of the past."

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Susan Metcalfe's review in Online Opinion – Australia's e-journal of social & political debate:

Quote: "Hope is not a film about right versus left, nor does it dwell on the opinions of politicians, commentators or advocates. There is no vitriolic debate about outsiders, no labelling, no intellectual argument. Hope does what the documentary form does best; it brings to life the human subject and restores the human dignity that volatile debates can often strip away."

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Philippa Hawker's review in The Age newspaper 20/6/08:

Quote: "Hope is a film about an important, troubling, still unexplored subject, and a strong, striking individual at its centre. Its significance is not only related to the story it tells, but to how it is told, the manner in which the documentary subject is given space, and the way the filmmaker and subject have things to say to each other."

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Paul Byrnes' review in the Sydney Morning Herald 19/6/08:

Quote: "There is always a degree of exploitation in a documentary film, unless the maker is also the subject, but Hope is a sincere effort by the Melbourne filmmaker Steve Thomas to crash through that inequality. He allows his subject to become his collaborator; he abandons authorial anonymity to appear on screen with her, to document their growing friendship. And he eventually shows us his own naked emotions, so the camera has more than one person's turmoil to exploit."

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Review by Jason Di Rosso on ABC Radio National 'Movietime' 26/06/08:

Quote: "I became fascinated by the different strands of Amal’s life -- not just her activism as a speaker on behalf of the SIEV X survivors, but the sequences showing her husband and son building a life in suburban Melbourne, her battle with a life threatening illness, her trip to visit her family in Iran. This has some surprising textures and inspirational moments of courage. A rich portrait."

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Reviews from the Sisters of Mercy:

"Amal Basry invites us into her life, her home and most of all her heart as she shares her journey toward a new life, a new hope, and ends with a turn of events you would not expect. I felt captured by her extraordinary spirit and always her deep sense of peace and hope for something better. Be prepared to meet a real person who will touch your heart with hope."
Julie Anne Ryan RSM

"I was privileged to be able to attend a screening of this film, Hope, and I was so moved by it words failed me, and I could only retreat into myself and reflect on the impact of the tragedy of this happening, its ongoing significance in the lives of so many families, not least those who had survived to face even more trauma and hardship. I think it is a hard movie to watch, but it demands to be seen and its message heard."
Celestine Pooley RSM

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ABC TV 'At the Movies' 18/6/08

Quote: "This potent documentary by Steve Thomas is a powerful portrait of a strong, courageous woman who underwent tragedy and appalling treatment at the hands of the Australian authorities but who still became a loyal Australian citizen."
David Stratton