IMDb > In This World (2002)
In This World
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In This World (2002) More at IMDbPro »

Videos (see all 6)
In This World (2002) -- Open-ended Trailer from Sundance Channel
In This World (2002) -- Theatrical Preview
In This World (2002) -- Sinematurk - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
7.5/10   2,354 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 11% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Writer:
Tony Grisoni (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for In This World on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
28 March 2003 (UK) more
Genre:
Tagline:
The journey to freedom has no borders.
Plot:
Enayat and Jamal are Afghan refugees who live in a camp in Peshawar and try to escape to Great Britain by the help of people smugglers... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 6 wins & 8 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(15 articles)
Coraline (2009) Movie Review
 (From Beyond Hollywood. 21 November 2009, 1:25 PM, PST)

Machan is streets ahead of any Hollywood product
 (From The Guardian - Film News. 19 November 2009, 9:23 AM, PST)

User Comments:
A human document of urgency and commitment more (27 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Jamal Udin Torabi ... Jamal
Enayatullah ... Enayat
Imran Paracha ... Travel Agent (Pakistan)
Hiddayatullah ... Enayat's Brother (Pakistan)
Jamau ... Enayat's Father (Pakistan)
Wakeel Khan ... Enayat's Uncle 1 (Pakistan)
Lal Zarin ... Enayat's Uncle 2 (Pakistan)
Ahsan Raza ... Money Changer (Pakistan)
Mirwais Torabi ... Jamal's Older Brother (Pakistan)
Abdul Ahmad ... Groom (Pakistan)
Amanullah Torabi ... Jamal's Younger Brother (Pakistan)
Ramzan Ali ... Driver 1 (Pakistan)
Chaman Ali ... Driver 2 (Pakistan)
Rasheed ... Soldier Shaheen (Pakistan)
Allah Bauhsh ... Farid (Pakistan)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
The Silk Road (UK) (working title)
more
MPAA:
Rated R for brief strong language.
Runtime:
88 min
Country:
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Filming Locations:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The film had two working titles before settling on its final name. While it was being shot, it was known as "The Silk Road". This was primarily as a cover, since officials in many countries were told the film was a documentary about that historical subject. Later, it was known as "M1187511", which was the UK Home Office's file number for the real-life Jamal's application for refugee status. Before its release however, the title was changed to "In This World". As Michael Winterbottom describes on the DVD, the title came from a line in the film where Jamal was translated as saying that a central character was dead. Jamal informed Winterbottom, on seeing this, that it was inaccurate. What he had actually said was that the man was "no longer in this world". Hence the film's title. more
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FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
12 out of 14 people found the following comment useful.
A human document of urgency and commitment, 16 May 2004
10/10
Author: Howard Schumann from Vancouver, B.C.

Motivated by a news story about 58 Chinese immigrants found suffocated in a container at Dover, In This World by Michael Winterbottom is a passionate tribute to the nearly one million refugees a year who are willing to take enormous risks to seek a better life. Winner of the Golden Bear at the 2003 Berlin International Film Festival, the film follows two boys, Jamal, 16 (Jamal Udin Torabi) and his older cousin Enayat (Enayatullah) on a perilous overland journey from an Afghan refugee camp in Pakistan to seek economic security in the West. Shot in documentary style with a digital camera strapped to the back of cinematographer Marcel Zyskind, the film is fictional but is drawn from a true story and mirrors the desperate conditions of untold thousands whose faces we never see.

The boys are Pashtun who have grown up at the Shamshatoo refugee camp in Pakistan along with 53,000 other Afghanis, victims of the Russian-Afghan War or the American war against the Taliban. The politics of the refugees are not discussed and the film is basically a human story that crosses political and religious lines. Since Jamal speaks some English, Enayat's family asks him to go with him to London where he can apply for asylum as a refugee. From Peshawar, Jamal and Enayat travel by bus to Quetta and over the Iranian border to Taftan and by bus to Tehran. They do not have proper identification and must contend along the way with border guards, police, thieves, smugglers, and numerous changes in currency and language.

The boys bribe a customs officer with a Walkman but when ordered off a bus to Tehran, they meet a group of Kurds who offer them the hand of friendship. There is not much dialogue and the boys mostly improvise the funny stories and small talk as they endure days and weeks of waiting for their next ride. In a sequence of great beauty shot at nighttime using infrared photography, the Kurds help the two boys cross the icy mountains to Turkey, ducking the gunfire of armed soldiers at the Turkish border. Together with an Iranian and his wife and baby, they are then brutally forced to travel inside a shipping container for a 40-hour voyage from Turkey to Italy, a journey where only the strong survive.

In This World is not just a road movie but a human document of urgency and commitment that allows us to experience the humanity of the people some contemptuously refer to as "economic migrants" or "asylum seekers". While it is not a political statement, it is clearly as a slap at the recent hardening of European immigration policies. On a broader scale, however, the film can be seen as an apt metaphor for life. It tells us that the journey is exhilarating but fraught with unimagined obstacles at every turn, yet there are friends who are there for us along the way and, when we feel overwhelmed and hopeless, there is an aching beauty that fortifies us with the strength to keep going.

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Message Boards

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Recent Posts (updated daily)User
How is Jamal now? geysers
How did Enyalat die? crazymonkey89
Music from the Film mcawesomepants
'In this world' musical score l-aragon
Fantastic film... tbundenthal
Mosquito in watch - joke yourbenzedrineuhhuh
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