It’s like a horror movie: you know that one ghastly thing after another is going to happen, and they do. Based on a true story, the movie drenches you with a kind of numbing compassion. These Kurds aren’t reluctantly leaving their homes because of a tyrant’s oppression; their journey is a quixotic quest that can only end in tragedy. Director Xavier Koller treats their plight too simplistically, as a question of closed borders and heartless officials. And the family (except for little Emin Sivas) never rises above pure victimhood into individuality. But there’s real power in the depiction of people who are totally powerless. The film’s several languages–Turkish, Italian, Swiss German–portray a contemporary Babel that’s likely heading for social chaos rather than a new world order. But, as heavy-handed as it is, “Journey of Hope” rubs our faces in a reality that’s getting realer every day.
