To a Land Unknown depicts a powerfully told story. Directed by Mahdi Fleifel, from a screenplay by him, Fyzal Boulifa, and Jason McColgan, To a Land Unknown, which premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, is a powerful blur between a documentary and a drama told with simple precision.

To a Land Unknown follows Chatila (Mahmood Bakri) and Reda (Aram Sabbah), cousins and Palestinian refugees living in poverty in Athens and breaking the law to earn enough money to move to Germany and reunite with Chatila’s wife and child, who are living in a Lebanese refugee camp. After multiple setbacks, they hatch a desperate, complicated plan to escape their purgatory.

To A Land Unknown Deals With Questions Of Morality, But Is Filled With Empathy

Chatila & Reda Face Dire Circumstances & Will Do Anything To Get Out

To a Land Unknown depicts a series of objectively ethically questionable deeds and pierces you with how reasonable most of it seems, and how quickly it spirals out of control. In no small part, this is because of the talented lead actors, who ground the story in people who are realistically frustrated and desperate.

Chatila has multiple touching phone calls with his wife — the actress on the other end of the phone is also great — which firmly establishes the stakes for him. Why wouldn’t he steal a purse or trick a lonely woman into helping him if it meant getting back to his family?

Both Bakri and Sabbah are turbulent yet consistent. Chatila is forcing himself to remain level-headed, adjusting the plan and maintaining his faith in the dream of opening a café in Berlin. Reda, a drug addict and occasional Sєx worker, wants badly to be a good person, but is cornered into more duplicitous choices by circumstance.

There is also Angeliki Papoulia as Tatiana, whom Chatila convinces to help them smuggle out Malik (Mohammad Alsurafa), a young boy who has fled Gaza and is trying to get to his aunt in Italy. These four characters’ interactions authentically and casually suggest a desire for comfort and connection, cast in a shadow by their ulterior motives.

As in real life, there is not much of a dramatic, neatly resolved ending for anyone. A huge component of To a Land Unknown is the theme of displacement. A quote from Edward Said at the beginning of the film and a character reciting the poem “The Mask Has Fallen” towards the end elevate this theme.

Madhi Fleifel’s No-Frills Filmmaking Style Best Serves The Film’s Commentary

The Director’s Technical Choices Underscore The Characters’ Struggles

To a Land Unknown was sH๏τ on 16mm film, doubtlessly why it feels just a little more down-to-Earth. There are several meticulously chosen cinematography and editing choices which, though perhaps basic in technical execution, drive home the point of a given scene perfectly, whether emphasizing the setting, dialogue, or scenario.

Mahdi Fleifel also does an impressive job of showcasing Athens, focusing on the most run-down parts of it, or the brief freedom of being above it all when looking down from a mountaintop. As the characters comment on the people who inhabit this city, To a Land Unknown deftly continues to paint its picture of a city that is hopefully only a stopover.

Fleifel is known for his documentary work, such as 2012’s A World Not Ours, and short films focusing on the experiences of Palestinian refugees — To a Land Unknown‘s influence in that regard is deeply felt. The filmmaker was reportedly also eager to do something different from his past work with the thriller aspects of the film’s plot (via Variety), though these aspects, while good, were over-advertised.

To a Land Unknown is a grainy, almost documentary that elegiacally shows us a reality where things can escalate quickly, peppered with some quiet philosophical ponderings. It is focused on its small-scale story about the main characters who are burdened by pain and ᴅᴇᴀᴅ-ends, but carefully works in the broader injustices it wants the audience to see.