HUMAN FLOW – Review

Refugees walking near Idomeni Camp, Greece in the documentary HUMAN FLOW, an Amazon Studios release. Photo courtesy of Amazon Studios ©

Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei was the subject of a 2012 documentary titled AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY. Now the artist has made his own documentary, about refugees, mostly fleeing war in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, called HUMAN FLOW.

Ai Weiwei knows something of this experience, having been an undocumented immigrant in New York in his youth. He returned to his native China, gained fame as an artist but the artist has since left, following his release from house arrest. Ai Weiwei’s sympathy lies firmly with the refugees and their plight in this emotional film.

In his documentary, Ai turns his camera on refugees fleeing Iraq and Syria, landing on the shore of Lesvos, Greece, and in refugee camps in Iraq. Ai documents the arrival of refugees by boat, as well as assisting some, and interviews refugees and UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and Human Rights Watch officials about the refugee crisis, the largest migration of people since World War II. We see people in refugee camps and struggling ashore in Lesvos, but also happy faces as they take a boat to a new home in Europe, Germany, Sweden, others. The refugees snap selfies and smile as the boat makes its way across the water. Kids play.

But Ai does not only focus on the migration out of the Middle East, shifting his focus to Asia, and the Rohingya Muslims fleeing religious persecution in their homeland in Mynamar for Thailand, Bangladesh and Malaysia.

Periodically, Ai superimposes text giving facts and numbers about the refugees, and sometimes bits of poetry or philosophy over his images of them. Ai is an artist, not a filmmaker, and the film has a languid pace, often lingering on individuals so long we see them grow restless or uncomfortable. Still his eye for composition of a scene is strong, and there are many shots with a stark beauty. Ai gives an immersive view of the refugees’ experience, particularly in Greece, tramping in a long line down muddy roads, camped out in the borders and near train tracks, hoping to move on to Germany. With the huge influx of refugees, some Eastern European nations closed their borders. The border fence does not stop all refugees, which Ai illustrates by focusing on a section that has been cut with wire-cutters.

HUMAN FLOW does not present much new information about the current refugee crisis but it does allow the artist/activist to present his own views on this subject, and give voice to some of those swept up in that human tide.

RATING: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars