Journey of Hope, a Swiss film directed by Xavier Koller, deals with the universal problem of illegal immigration and the unconscionable exploitation of human hope. It effectively depicts aspects of the cultures of Turkey, Italy, and Switzerland while also providing a tense and engaging drama.

The Story: The poor in southern European countries sometimes chase after the dream of better wages and a happier life in the more prosperous northern European countries such as Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland. The dreamer in this film is Haydar Sener, a poor Kurdish farmer living in Turkey with a family of seven. His imagination has been inflamed by stories of relatives and neighbors who have immigrated to Switzerland and especially a postcard from a cousin that promises, “It’s true, this really is paradise. Here, butter would flow from the udders of your goats. The yogurt would be as firm as the ice cream from Maras.” Despite resistance from his wife, Meryem (Nur Surer), and the adamant opposition of his father, Haydar is determined to sell his horse and cows, his sheep and land and to purchase passports and transportation to the paradise he envisions. It will be impossible to take his seven children. They will be left with their grandparents and brought to Switzerland later when Haydar and Meryem have found wealth in their new country. Meryem quite sensibly refuses to go, but under pressure from her husband and with the concession of taking along their oldest son, seven year-old Mehmet Ali (Emin Sivas), Meryem relents and agrees to accompany her husband.

Wherever there is hope in the human breast, there will also reside the unscrupulous who are prepared to rob them blind. Haydar’s first contact is with local Turks who operate the first leg of an underground railway that facilitates illegal immigration. Every step along the way seems designed primarily to separate the naïve couple from their money and belongings. Although they occasionally encounter good-hearted people, such as a Swiss truck driver who becomes quite friendly with the family, the agents operating the illegal railway are despicably exploitive. They con the family out of its resources with phony promises, money exchange schemes, and ever-increasing demands for bribes and travel fare. The film meanders through a series of bleak circumstances as the family wends its way toward Switzerland. They are stowed inside a freight container, left to wait at an empty train depot, transported in an overloaded van, and finally left to find their own way over the alps during inclement weather.

Themes: It is hard to extract a specific theme from this movie, which is ultimately its weak spot as a film. Obviously, the exploitation of this poor family’s hope for a better life by the con artists who run the immigration railway is sickening. At the same time, viewers can’t help but to recognize the stupidity of Haydar’s plan – not only at its inception but at each step along the way. He subjects his family to such an excess of risk that the tragic outcome becomes almost inevitable. One hates the men who exploit a fool, but a fool is doomed to be exploited by one group of men or another. One would have appreciated more a film that said, in effect, look at this horrible problem and this is what has to be done about it. Instead, Journey of Hope seems almost to depict this terrible social problem as the inevitable convergence of two human tendencies: naïve hope for a better life and greedy exploitation. Although Haydar’s journey may epitomize human hope, the film, in the end, manifests only despair. The message, such as it is, appears to be that illegal immigration is an activity rife with potential for tragedy. There is a horrific scene near the beginning of the film that I think pretty much sums the film up. A group of children are lying on a train track while a huge train speeds toward them. All but one gets up and runs away at the last opportunity, but one little boy lies low to the ground while the great train roars over his head and body. When it has passed, his shocked father picks him up and scolds him for giving them such a fright. The boy is Mehmet and the father, of course, Haydar. Apparently, paroxysms of insane risk-taking are a hereditary defect in this family!

Production Values: The story is emotionally engaging from the beginning. All of us have multiple ancestors who immigrated from one place to another during various times in history. All of us can identify with the dream of a better life. These are likable people and we soon feel that we are traveling with them, hoping and despairing with them, as they go. The cinematography is gorgeous, not only in the stunning natural vistas, both in Turkey and in the Alps, but also in the stark realism in which the bleak settings are presented, such as the vacant train station. The musical score is both appealing and effective in fortifying the emotional tension. It features European jazz music – from Sweden and Norway according to one reviewer.

Necmettin Çobanoglu, who plays the lead part as Haydar Sener, is otherwise best known for his appearance as Omer in the Turkish drama Yol (1982). He provides a strong performance. He is very nearly upstaged by Emin Sivas, as the round-eyed, mischievous Mehmet. Where the family rarely encounters decency, it is in large measure from the sympathy that the appealing Mehmet engenders in strangers.

Bottom-Line: Journey of Hope won the Oscar in 1990 for Best Foreign Film, though the choice was widely considered an upset. In my personal view, there were at least two nominations in that category in 1990 more deserving than the film that was selected: Cyrano de Bergerac and Ju Dou. Journey of Hope may have been aided by the stories running in the press, at the time of its selection, concerning the plight of Kurds in Iraq. That’s not to say its not a good film. It’s just not a great one or a “Best Foreign Film.” I’d like to give it 3.5 stars, but lacking that option, I’ll go with four. Journey of Hope is in Turkish language with English subtitles. It has a running time of 111 minutes.


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You might want to check out these other excellent films from Switzerland:

Dangerous Moves
The Last Chance
Messidor

Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older