Film No. 9 (2016) Dheepan February 2nd..

Film No. 9 (2016) February 2nd.  8.00 PM THE PINES Outdoor Cinema Joondalup.

"A Powerful Fable" (The description  of Dheepan by a commentator when he is asked to give a three word reaction immediately after viewing the film).

There are so many stories depicting the depth and breadth of just how far the human spirit can be tested when it comes to the desperate lengths people will go to when escaping their unsafe native country seeking a life elsewhere. The hope is, the life elsewhere will be better but as Dheepan unfolds we come to very bleak terms with the realities of what life as a refugee could be like.


Five days on and I simply can't stop thinking about this film. Imagine losing the closest people to you in what many would see as a pointless war. Your final act to escape the hurt, the sorrow and anguish is to find a new life. The only escape is to play husband and father to two people you've never met, then board a boat heading in a direction your not sure of. Dheepan (Jesuthasan Antonythasan) is the once Tamil Tiger escaping his native Sri Lanka under precisely these terms. 

Dheepan is the founding character on which this film is fastened but it is also a slow burn love story which so gradually trickles through via "wife" Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan) and "daughter" Illayaal (Claudine Vinasithamby) as they all become appreciative of one another for varying reasons. Their new life on the fringes of Paris is as dangerous as the life they have escaped. Their bravery  leads to a climax which no one could have predicted but which gives the film the ironic twist it deserves.


Director Jacques Audiard etched out a violent backdrop for The Prophet then made us believe in the humanity of his characters in Rust And Bone. In Dheepan he has combined all the elements of his previous films to give us a prime example of naturalistic cinema.

To me, unlike so many others, he deserved his Cannes gong (Palme d'or) for best film. The competition to win this prestigious award is fierce but the arts are a fickle business when it comes to comparison. The unique journey Dheepan takes it's audience on is beyond comparison. 10GUMS.