DOCUMENTARY

They will feed you, but they take away the right to be a child.

-Sheri Shoari

This is a film about a real estate agent, a mechanic, an aspiring truck driver, a tiler and several other men and women. But they have one thing in common – they all sought refuge in Australia. Director Thomas uses an unusually open attitude to involvement, allowing his subjects to take control of some of his interviews and even asking them about content selection. What comes out of this approach is a singularly impactful story of the terrifying lives of new refugees to Australia. Having fled from horrifying repression, torture and death in their home countries, they all went on to spend long spells in detention centres before eventually being given refugee migrant status. Today, they are making lives in their new country, but none of them will forget what the achievement of freedom took from them. Thomas sensibly doesn’t try to give any answers, but lets the actors say what they feel. The result is as powerful as it is moving.