Good concept, poorly executed.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

This is a bad film. I choose it cause of Costa-Gavras and the "official selection" of Brisbane and Melbourne film festivals. What a mistake, Riccardo should end his acting career immediately. He exaggerates every little emotion and reaction. But it is even worse, it's like seeing a bad actor trying to play a bad actor. And the film is full of over-acted clichés, like a wife traveling single looking for sex, German homosexuals driving trucks, an "ordinary" man having oral sex with Elias, an unhappy elderly Spanish couple, a rich nice french widow etc. It's just to much. Directly when a new scene appears you know how it is going to end. Costa Gavras must have told every actor to exaggerate their acting. Can't believe how a film starting off pretty good can add stupid scenes one after another until the even more crazy and unsatisfying ending. I do hope there will come a good film about the same subject, since the boat refugees and immigration into Europe make a great scene for storytelling. Maybe the production was low cost, it could explain the failure.

I admit that it was the director's name that made me choose this film from the selection of international films offered by Qantas in their on-board entertainment system on my flight home.The initial sequence of illegal immigrants on a boat was haunting as they ripped their identification cards and threw them into the water. As authorities came to arrest them, we meet Elias who dove into the sea to escape. He was washed ashore on a nudist beach resort. And from then you know that things would turn for the ludicrous.It is a cat and mouse game as Elias tries to find his was to Paris to search for a magician who told him to look for him there. On that flimsy premise, the movie became a road trip where Elias encounters and interacts with people who had various problems. Elias was always just the witness of events, but we never find out anything about his past. We do not even know from which country he came from! I kept on watching the film because I wanted to see how Elias would finally fare when he reaches Paris. However when he does meet the magician in Paris, the expected grand finale of Elias' exodus was nowhere to be seen. The crazy visual gimmick that Costa Gavras did on the Eiffel Tower in the ending even made the whole movie look stupid.

The main character isn't only innocent and naive, but he also is portrayed as good natured as it gets. Now you could argue if that really is possible or if it really works story-wise. But you have to suspend your disbelief here early on. The movie is jumping from one scene to the next, changing many locations and therefor never really builds an emotional connection with the viewer. While the segments are nice and good, the whole experience isn't as good as the sum of it's parts.It gets even more irritating, when almost every cliché get's played out in the story, letting the main character go through every possible roller-coaster ride an (illegal) immigrant can go through. Unfortunately it doesn't mix as well as one might think (pace and rhythm is all over the place and not in a good sense).

I believe this is one of the most poetic ways to talk about a Social problem that his hurting both Africa ,East Europe and the Western World. As a writer for African refugees(but at the end all Refugees carry the same Problems) I believe that Costa Gavras have not only pointed out the negative aspects but also the good. The film also shows the Sexual Exploitation that many young men have to face in order to survive their Clandestinity. In many occasions we see also the Work Labour Exploitation and the prejudice against the Newcomers., but at the same time there are also some "Mother Teresa" Elias played by Scarmacio portrays the struggle the refugees have to undergo not only in-front of the People but the awkward Laws the EU have set out ,giving them the Status of Law Offenders because without Documents. The Film is masterly Directed by Mr. Gavras who he himself found himself to be an Immigrant but in a different time when man was respected as Human Being. African Refugees News The story of Elias can with a bit of Fanthasy be compared to Ulisses Journey.The Eden, I may say was the Island were Ulysses first met his Troubles but gave him the Strenght to fight for his life. I recommend this Film to Sociolgists and People who want to know more about The Boat people and their Journey of Hope to a better Life