About FLEE, a Documentary

 If you read a short description of this new documentary, you might say to yourself "This sounds too gimmicky. A true story told in animation." I saw this 90-minute feature. It is the true story of an immigrant. It is done in animation to protect his identity. It is also one of the most gripping, powerful and moving documentaries I have seen this year. Amin is a brawny, bearded, handsome animated man. His grueling physical and emotional journey took him from his pleasant home life in Afghanistan to Russia to Denmark and to work with Princeton University. As he had to tell people when he, as a teen, was fleeing his homeland for freedom elsewhere, his educator father, his mother and his brother were killed and his sister was kidnapped when politics in Afghanistan took a dark, deadly turn. We go back to 1984 when Amil was a happy little boy listening to the same music we heard on MTV, a boy who loved to get attention by dressing up for laughs in his sister's clothes. In his teen years, he went to a Junior Prom. Also in his teen years, he had a crush on action movie star Jean-Claude Van Damme. Yes, Amir is gay. That alone made him an outsider in homeland before the political horror started. We learn that there is not even a word for "homosexual" in Afghanistan because to be gay in that culture is a source of shame.

As the animated interview with the adult Amin begins, he is asked "What does the word 'home' mean to you?" This is a story about home, identity, family, fleeing for freedom and daring to find a sense of belonging.

Amin stops the interview temporarily and speaks honestly, giving answers he was not forced to give during his long, hazardous journey for freedom. We see the animated Kasper. Kasper is the man Amin loves. Oscar nominated actor Riz Ahmed, of 2019's SOUND OF METAL, is an executive producer of FLEE. 

The documented is seasoned with news footage clips of those horrible years when the Taliban was taking control. The animated recreations of what teen Amir and some relatives endured in Moscow and as stowaways on ships made me gasp. They are that strong.

There is also hope, truth and true love in this documentary. This is a look at the immigrant experience that I urge you to consider seeing. It won a top prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Thank you for FLEE, Riz Ahmed.