Maryam enters the UK in a white van and is dropping in London early one morning to fend for herself. Searching for food and shelter she eventually claims asylum and is put up by the state in a council house with meagre benefits to live on. However her problems may not end there and she finds her claim rejected in a couple of weeks and is soon back out on the street in a strange country where she is greeted with suspicion and rejection.
I must admit that, as I often am, I'm in the shadow of comments Theo has already made on this title. He is right to point out the controversy that this subject raises and the banner headlines that come with it in the red tops, and right to point out the influence it must have had on this film. However this doesn't mean that the film necessarily has to be making a political point one way or the other it can just be a story. However the bits of the film that go away from reality show which direction the film is trying to spin; namely the bit where Maryam is very quickly rejected and put out on the street. As Theo said, the reality is more that claims can take years and, even when rejected asylum seekers can still live here on benefits.
So this aspect of it shows its opinions but mostly it is just a story rather than a pointed attack on the system. The title of the film is "non people" and not "crap system" so we understand that the film is about Maryam and not the UK asylum system (although we see its impact on her). As such it nearly works because the character is well delivered by Taghavi with a natural and convincing performance. However the fact that the film gradually becomes more slanted towards the "look at the poor asylum seeker" approach means that the character study is lessened. A nice try and a good performance but the gradual revealing of politic slanting tends to undermine it as it goes ironically it might have been more interesting if it had just come out all guns blazing with its colours nailed to the mast.