Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s sullen and soul-searching film focuses on the plight of undocumented asylum seekers desperately trying to find sanctuary in Europe. Abbas (Eriq Ebouaney), a college professor and father of two, seeks political asylum in France after fleeing the civil war that has raged in the Central African Republic since 2013. Widowed when his wife died in attempting to escape the country with him, he has since met Carole (Sandrine Bonnaire), who consoles him in his anguish at the French immigration system. Two years of waiting finally elicit a response from the authorities. Everything he holds dear, including his hopes for both his future and those of his children, lie in their decision. Ebouaney and Bonnaire both give compelling performances, while Haroun masterfully contrasts the intimacy of human relationships with the cold bureaucracy of a vast, impersonal system.

Keith Shiri