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Based on Gyorgy Dragoman’s novel, we meet the Fitz family, as Hannah (Agyness Deyn) and husband Peter (Ross Partridge) play freely with their young son Djata (Lorenzo Allchurch). But any such liberation is short-lived, as Peter is taken away by the law enforcement, accused of being a traitor to the brutal, unforgiving dictatorship they live within. Imprisoned and with a slim chance of release, Djata and his mother are labelled traitors by the local neighbourhood and robbed of any privileges, as they strive to get by in this bleak environment. Though the young boy is not taking no for an answer, with a courage and interminable energy that keeps him fighting back against the establishment, wanting nothing more than to just see his father again.
The aesthetic is gratifying too, as the filmmakers shoot this setting well, presenting the story in a resourceful manner. The score is also brilliantly judged and helps to maintain the raw, severity of the story with the surrealistic edge that lingers. On a more negative note, regrettably some of the supporting cast are not quite up to scratch (Jonathan Pryce and Fiona Shaw as Djata’s grandparents aside) but that is a common casualty in independent cinema, as ensuring a full house of impressive acting performances without the budget to assemble such a cast is jarring on this occasion, but still not enough to take away too much from an otherwise engrossing affair.