Film Review: As Far As I Can Walk

We got the opportunity to check out a wonderful international film titled As Far As I Can Walk made in Serbia about a Ghanaian couple who left Ghana with a dream of a better life in Europe and ends up living with refugees in Belgrade. It is also a re-imaging of a medieval epic where the couple takes the place of Serbian heroes. Siisi nicknamed Strahinja is the protagonist of the movies as he plays for the national soccer team, is a Red Cross volunteer in the camp he lives in and looking for a job. All the while is married to a woman who leaves the camp and disappears which leads Strahinja on a urgent journey to find her. The film is a poignant piece of how refugees is treated by local government and the entities who are there in place to help them out in any way they can. The topics of love, identity and race is addressed throughout the film. You see in some scenes where traveling to the border is looked as not just a criminal act but degrading and the authorities treat them as delinquents. The acting by Ibrahim Koma and Nancy Mensah-Offei as Strahinja and Ababuo, the Ghanaian couple was great casting. Their depiction is spot on as young lovers trying to find meaning in their relationship and what it means to be stuck in a camp with very few options to make it out. You can tell the writers really envision how a refugee couple survives daily and why the relationship doesn't survive or does based on the individual.

Stefan Arsenijevic who directed and co wrote the screenplay did a brilliant job of showing the audience what's life like in a refugee camp and the scenery matched the tone of each sequence between characters especially when Strahinja and Ababuo are on the screen. As Far As I Can Walk is a good film and one that should be in movie theaters soon because it is definitely worth the ticket. Thanks to ArtMattan Films for giving us the opportunity and look for the screening in New York. It will be screening at the IFC Center on June 30th, July 1st and July 2nd. For information go to www.africanfilm.com