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Flee

Submissions for Best International Feature (Academy Awards 2022)

Flee

2021

Jonas Poher Rasmussen

Animation, Documentary, Voice: Daniel Karimyar, Fardin Mijdzadeh ...

7.4

2,275

Animation. Documentary An Afghan refugee agrees to tell a remarkable personal narrative of persecution and escape on the condition that his identity not be revealed. As a means of fulfilling that wish, his filmmaker friend uses striking animation to not only protect this young man but also enhance his tale, bending time and memory to recount a visceral, poetic, and death-defying journey dictated by deception, loneliness, and a relentless will to survive.

	Author	Review
United States	David Rooney The Hollywood Reporter	"It's a powerful and poetic memoir of personal struggle and self-discovery that expands the definition of documentary."	POS
United Kingdom	Amber Wilkinson Screendaily	"Rasmussen’s consideration of one man’s journey sheds light on the emotional legacy that can linger even after sanctuary is found"	POS
United States	Peter Debruge Variety	"Animation proves an ideal medium by which to both mask and reveal the identity of a gay man who escaped Afghanistan"	POS
United States	Gregory Ellwood The Playlist	"A stellar exploration of refuge Trauma (...) Poignant and humane"	POS
United States	Eric Kohn IndieWire	"A thrilling, masterful survival story (...) There have been countless movies about the immigration crisis, but none of them have the sheer ingenuity of 'Flee'"	POS
United States	Robert Daniels rogerebert.com	"Rasmussen’s 'Flee' covers its difficult topics (...) in sometimes overlong strides. But its ambition is as challenging as it is gorgeous."	POS
Canada	Reuben Baron CBR	"Amin's life has been tumultuous and intense, but 'Flee' finds entertaining moments of levity (...) and a general sense of optimism in the face of tragedy."	POS
United States	Keith Watson Slant	"It effectively immerses us in the wrenching details of his story, but it keeps us a bit too far removed from the man himself (...) If the eyes are the window to the soul, it keeps the blinds half drawn (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"	NEU
United Kingdom	Benjamin Lee The Guardian	"[A] remarkable refugee story told with heart and audacity (...) Rasmussen has created a loving and unsparing tribute to his friend (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Canada	Dustin Chang Screen Anarchy	"Guise and truth (...) An intimate, compelling account of a refugee story and a beautiful coming of age story told in a friendly, easier to digest way, via animation"	POS
United States	Ann Hornaday The Washington Post	"At a time when news stories about refugees and migration threaten to become numbingly anonymous, 'Flee' restores the fine detail and human contours that make each version unique, individual and vital (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Peter Travers ABC News	"For this year’s best and most dazzlingly inventive animated adventure, look no further than 'Flee,' (...) A cinema experience like no other."	POS
United States	Carlos Aguilar The Wrap	"Etched without a false note of cynicism or falling into cheap sentimentality, 'Flee' harnesses the animated medium in stunning form to grant us a miracle of empathy"	POS
United States	Noel Murray AV Club	"[It] paints a refugee's story in vivid colors (...) Jonas Poher Rasmussen's intense and moving 'Flee' is a reminder of how animation in nonfiction movies can elevate the storytelling"	POS
Canada	Sarah Bea Milner Screen Rant	"Heart-wrenching animated documentary among 2021's best films (...) 'Flee' is a sublime presentation of a deeply personal story that is also incredibly significant politically (…) Rating: ★★★★½ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Hoai-Tran Bui SlashFilm	"Animated documentary paints a refugee tale more vivid and sharp than reality (...) But 'Flee' never shames its central character, only offering him the humanity and the understanding that he long craved"	POS
United States	Jen Yamato Los Angeles Times	"A moving portrait of one refugee's journey to confront the past (...) 'Flee' is a work of great empathy for the refugee experience. More poignantly it illustrates how deeply the invisible scars can remain etched"	POS
United States	A. O. Scott The New York Times	"The film is both probing and tactful (...) The animation suffuses 'Flee' with a strangeness that a conventional documentary might not possess"	POS
United States	Siddhant Adlakha The New York Observer	"It uses animation to sharpen the dangerous edges of its refugee story, and to capture the devastating physical and emotional toll of never-ending war. But in brief moments, it acts as a spiritual balm (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
Ireland	Tara Brady Irish Times	"The sense of catharsis and the heartfelt voiceover, however, offset the roughhewn aesthetics (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Cassie Da Costa Vanity Fair	"A compassionate collage of sound and image (...) What's most arresting about 'Flee' isn't its animated sequences, but Rasmussen's detailed and attentive recording of Amin's vocal expressions"	POS
United States	Phil de Semlyen Time Out	"A richly moving animation with a queer dimension (...) 'Flee' offers a penetrating insight into the psychology of the migrant experience (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Matt Goldberg Collider	"A haunting, heartbreaking, and essential story is one of the year's best films (...) This documentary provides necessary insight into the life of a refugee (...) It's a beautiful, uncompromising film, and I'm so grateful for it"	POS
United States	Todd McCarthy Deadline	"With great resourcefulness, Rasmussen puts you through [the situation] in a way that illustrates, instructs, makes you look inward and ask whether you’d have what it takes"	POS
United Kingdom	Joshua Rothkopf Empire	"An extraordinary blend of personal reflection and inspired craft, 'Flee' is a harrowing child's-eye adventure that lends lyricism to the plight of migrants (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
	David Katz Cineuropa	"Sublime storytelling (...) One of the most mesmerising animated features in many a year, 'Flee' uniquely documents an Afghan refugee's harrowing attempts to find asylum abroad (...) It is a gift"	POS

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