‘Flee’ scene crystalizes what it can be like to be a refugee

Director Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s “Flee” is a harrowing journey of self-acceptance and truth, one in which Afghanistan refugee Amin Nawabi (a pseudonym) woefully shares his 20-year secret to his friend-turned-documentarian. Fleeing his country for Russia, Amin and his mother find safe passage to Denmark aboard a boat, only for it to take on water. While they are trapped at sea, a cruise liner appears as a ray of hope, but instead passengers blankly stare, snapping photos until a booming voice over a loudspeaker says, “We have called the Estonian border police. They will take you back.” “For me, that was one of the biggest gut punches while doing this,” says Rasmussen. “Those tourists are taking photos of them, and then I’m next to him documenting the same thing. It really crystallizes the situation of the wealthy West and how a refugee has it so much worse. We stayed in the moment to show this is what it’s like to be a refugee — that you’re on a sinking boat and no one helps.”