Review: Hope is an authoritative documentary, part of the rich body of work that has emerged in response to Australia’s severe immigration laws. Director Steve Thomas presents the story of Amal Basry, an ‘illegal’ Iraqi immigrant and mother of two. The documentary idea developed out of Melbourne based artist Kate Durham’s, paintings of the SIEV X ferry disaster that resulted in the deaths of 393 people on their way to Australia from Indonesia on an un-seaworthy vessel. In 2001 Amal paid a people smuggler for the fateful trip with one of her sons, from Indonesia to Australia. A political refugee from Iraq, Amal had made her way to Indonesia from Iraq and now sought to come to Australia to join her husband. En route, the overloaded boat struck disaster and capsized, killing 393 of the 400 passengers onboard. Amal survived on the high seas by clinging to a floating dead body for 24 hours unaware that her son had had also survived. She recalls the sounds of other survivors crying for help and the corpses of infants floating past. The trauma of those horrifying 24 hours haunts her and she describes the near death experience in startling detail. She has told the story many times and each time, emotion overwhelms her as images hidden in her memory re emerge. Stylistically unique, Thomas is a participant in the film and Amal collaborates with him to determine the direction of the narrative. The camera does not observe her as a passive subject, instead she influences her representation to a large degree. The act of her influencing certain sequences is cleverly edited to reveal subtle facets of Amal’s passionate and often romantic character. The film makes it clear that the director is on a journey of discovery, similar to Amal’s. Thomas’s humble approach to the subject foregrounds Amal as a courageous survivor, not just of physical but also bureaucratic hardships. What distinguishes Hope from other films of the genre is that the documentary does not conclude with Amal’s success in relocating to Australia. Thomas reconstructs her journey through a trip back to Indonesia and continues to document Amal’s struggles even after she secures her residency. During the film it is revealed that Amal has cancer and in this condition she travels to Tehran, where her extended family is now located, one last time to see her older son, her daughter, grandchildren and her aging father. Her family travel from various parts of the Persian Gulf to meet her. Upon her return, Thomas and Amal watch the home movie together and she requests him to include the sequence in the documentary. Tears of sadness and joy stream down her face as she watches herself with her family whom she thought were forever separated. Hope confronts the contemporary global issue of human rights and the treatment of immigrants but it is also a story of the day to day life of Amal and her family, the daily challenges and events that shape their life in Australia. In the process, Thomas has created an intimate humanistic portrait of this extraordinary Iraqi woman that challenges the demonized representation of so called ‘illegal immigrants’ in mainstream media. Review by Shweta Kishore Informative: 3- The film reveals an incident that had been largely hidden from the public eye Entertaining: 2- The film is thought provoking, not really light entertainment Technical: 3- Well shot, not terribly innovative or visually unique Overall: 3- This film is a sum of its parts. The directors compassion, the poignant story and the upbeat protaganist make this a worthwhile venture
 
Format: Theater Year: 2008 Running Time: 104 Min Distributor: Flying Carpet Films/Gecko Films Producer: Sue Brooks & Steve Thomas Director: Steve Thomas Date Reviewed: 11-29-2008 Story: Amal Basry watched The Titanic at a cinema in Baghdad the night before she fled Iraq. 18 months later the people smuggling boat she was on sank between Indonesia and Australia. 353 people drowned. Amal survived by clinging to the floating body of a dead woman for 22 hours. Now Amal fights to ensure that the disaster is not forgotten, reunite her family and 'find what it was I lost in the ocean' (from Website).