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Event though his track record is rather uneven (the guy is pretty much a workaholic, making very often 2 movies a year), I think Michael Winterbottom is quite a fascinating director and, in my opinion, He should get much more credit. Anyway, after his brilliant debut, ‘Butterfly Kiss’, this movie is easily his best feature and it deservedly won the Golben Bear at the 2003 Berlin film festival. Basically, the plot is rather simple, it follows a young boy (14-15 years old, I think) who goes from Pakistan to England, illegally. Even though you pretty much know from the start that this journey will be pretty hazardous, it was seriously dangerous, harrowing and just plain horrible to behold. Honestly, after seeing this movie, I'll bet you will have some doubts about the anti-immigration laws. Indeed, do they have any purpose, considering that if people live in despair, they will risk anything, even their life to find a better place to live with hope of a brighter future? Since then, Winterbottom has directed many interesting movies but none of them have been so good. To conclude, I thought it was a great flick, it is a difficult watch but I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested by this subject.
9/10
