Welcome Still
A powerful drama with enormous contemporary relevance, Welcome follows Simon (the ruggedly handsome Vincent Lindon), a middle-aged swim instructor and former Olympic gold medalist living in Calais who reluctantly befriends Bilal (Firat Ayverdi), a Kurdish refugee and illegal alien. Hoping to swim the English Channel and be reunited with his true love in London, Bilal takes lessons from Simon, who is himself trying to patch up his own troubled marriage while facing increasing pressure from immigration authorities for sheltering Bilal. Moving and filled with engaging performances, director Lioret, who formerly served as a sound technician for Robert Altman, focuses on the frustrating and often humiliating experiences of immigrants, who travel enormous distances hoping to find work in wealthier countries, only to experience setbacks at the very end of their backbreaking voyages.
