Flee

Spoiler Alert: Stop if you haven't seen the film Flee.

Flee, the Oscar-nominated animated film is told from the viewpoint of Amin, a gay man whose family fled Afghanistan to Moscow and finally his journey and settling down in Copenhagen. This is a true story.

While the movie is focused on Amin's journey, it can be applied to any refugee escaping brutal oppression in their home country. It brings to light the savage treatment by human smugglers, the cold reception that refugees often experience outside of their home countries, and the secrets that refugees keep to themselves at risk to their own mental health.

Amin's trauma stems from the fact that to get to Copenhagen safely, he would have to deny the existence of his family once he got there. He has hidden this fact for many years and it has weighed on him.

The story of smugglers leaving Amin's sisters, and other refugees locked in a storage container, was grueling and all too close to the experience of many refugees relying on human traffickers to get to safer countries. In 2019, 39 Vietnamese people froze to death in a refrigerated truck, 25 miles outside of London. This is not an uncommon story.

According to the UN Refugee Agency-USA (UNHCR), at the end of 2020, 82.4 million people worldwide were displaced due to conflict, violence, persecution, human rights violations, and events that are disruptive in their home countries.

At this very moment, there are over 100,ooo Ukranians who are displaced due to the invasion by Russia.

The advent of the worldwide COVID pandemic made it even more difficult to protect and assist refugees. COVID 19 created border closures, barriers to asylum, which made the tenuous situation of the refugee even more difficult.

Since March 20, 2020, under the guise of the U.S. Health Law, section 265 of Title 42, individuals seeking asylum at our southern border are being turned away and removed to their countries of origin. Over 1.2 million expulsions have occurred since the pandemic began. In August of 2021, a new order replaced the 2020 order adding an exemption for unaccompanied minors.

Title 42 was invoked, first by the Trump administration, followed by the Biden administration, to reduce the spread of COVID-19, despite protests from agencies like the CDC. Many migrants then turn to human smugglers who lead them through dangerous conditions to get them to the United States.

In 2020, Border Patrol found 250 bodies of migrants along the border of Mexico. This number does not include the bodies of migrants found by other agencies. This is a direct result of Title 42.

Flee personalizes the story of the refugee. Perhaps this representation will open hearts and minds. I have mixed feelings about this tactic, but I do think it helps create understanding and compassion.

The UNHCR states that "stories and images that focus on an individual are almost always more engaging and memorable than general stories or images of a crowd". You can find stories of individual refugees on unhcr.org. These stories reflect the resilience of refugees and their contributions to society.

A very good list of books is also available. These include Hope Not Fear by Hassan Akkad; A Fort of Nine Towers by Qais Akbar Omar; Butterfly by Yusra Mardini; The Art of Losing by Alice Zeniter; Lights in the Distance: Exile and Refuge at the Borders of Europe by Daniel Trill; How to be a Refugee: One Family's Story of Exile and Begining by Simon May; No Friend by the Mountain by Behrouz Boochani; What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad and many, many more.

Flee made Oscar history by being nominated for Best International Feature Film, Best Documentary Feature, and Best Animated Feature. Flee is the first movie to be nominated in all three categories, according to Slate.com.

Flee is worth a look and is currently available on Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Vudu, and Google Play Movies and TV. I hope you will consider watching it.

To help refugees in your community contact The International Rescue Committee, World Relief, and local agencies within your area. NPR has written an article, today, regarding how you can help with the Ukranian displacement.

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