By: Andrew Wing
Flee (Danis: Flugt) is a 2021 Danish animated docudrama film directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen. It follows the story of a man named Amin Nawabi, who shares his hidden past of fleeing his country for the first time. Riz Ahmed (Venom, Sound of Metal) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones, Shot Caller) serve as executive producers.
The film had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 28, 2021. It was released in theaters in the United States on December 3, 2021, by Neon and Participant.
The film was selected as the Danish entry for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, where it received a nomination, along with nominations in the Best Documentary Feature and Best Animated Feature categories, becoming the first film to be nominated in all three major categories, simultaneously.
THE GOOD
Flee is one of those films that has been on my radar for a long time. It premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival where it got great reviews, and as I say in the intro, it also had an excellent turnout at the Academy Awards. Ever since getting big into movies a couple of years ago, I’ve gained a deeper appreciation for both documentaries and animated films, and Flee is both. Aside from the incredible true story that gets hinted at in the trailer, the main selling point for Flee with me was how unique of a film it is being a documentary that uses animation. With that said, I was ecstatic when I saw it was streaming on Hulu so I immediately checked it out. But now it’s time to find out if it was as groundbreaking as people are making it out to be, so let’s get into the review!
First things first, this story is incredible. It tells the story of Amin, a refugee from Afghanistan, who eventually ended up in Denmark. It’s a harrowing, gripping, thrilling journey from beginning to end. It’s a first hand account from Amin, and we follow him from his early life to where he is now. This film will have a lasting impact on you as it has on me, and it really makes you think about how different certain countries treat refugees and how we could all handle this crisis differently. This movie just shows how these refugees ultimately want somewhere they can call a home, rather than always having that ripped away from them and constantly having to worry about where to go next to keep from being murdered in their own country. There was just so much to take away from this, and I have a hard time thinking anybody won’t come away enthralled by Amin’s journey.
The animation is unbelievable here. It is used to literally illustrate the story for you. For the most part, the animation in this is stylized in a way that really tries to hone in on the emotional experience Amin is on and the intensity of every situation. We got a little bit of archival footage of certain times and places to help paint the picture too which I thought was a nice touch. All in all though, it’s content is thematic and the animation was an incredibly effective way to tell the story, and I’m extremely glad it got nominated for Best Animated Feature Film. It likely won’t win though with Disney’s Encanto (see my full review here) being the heavy favorite, but it’s really remarkable to have a foreign documentary film even nominated for that category.
In conclusion, just a round of applause for the director Jonas Poher Rasmussen. He truly gives us a piece of art that expertly discusses it’s very prevalent subject matter. I’m very happy for him and the fact that he will forever be attached to the first film that broke barriers by collecting those three Oscar nominations simultaneously. Also, I need to honestly say thank you to Amin Nawabi (who uses an alias for protection) for having the courage to share his story. He allowed us to get a piece of him as he tells us everything through narration. Amin is very open and honest about how this experience impacted him as an individual. Flee also has great LGBT representation as Amin, a homosexual man, had to hide his identity every time he became a citizen of another place, and so he shares how he grappled with all of that in the film. Lastly, Flee made me feel incredibly grateful that I’ve never even come close to dealing with something like this. It made me fully aware and thankful of the privilege that citizenship gives us, and it took a film like this for me to fully realize that.
THE BAD
There is absolutely nothing “bad” about this film. It’s hard to critique a documentary just because of what they are, but the only critical thing I can say about this is that I wanted more time focused on a certain storyline. It carries a lot of weight early on in the film, and then you don’t hear much about it until right before the end credits roll. Also, and I’m putting this out not as a critique but rather a warning to anyone that’s going to watch this, the film is Danish, so the entire film is in subtitles. Other than that though, this was just an amazing film that I think everybody should check out.
THE VERDICT
Flee is an incredibly powerful true story of one refugee’s life that perfectly blends animation and documentary filmmaking. It’s no surprise that this is the first film to be nominated at the Academy Awards for the three major categories simultaneously: Best International Feature, Best Documentary Feature and Best Animated Feature, as it is just a groundbreaking and unforgettable feat of storytelling that had me completely blown away.
TED TAKES RATING - 9/10
Flee is now available to watch on Hulu. Check out the latest trailer below.