This Is Home: A Refugee Story

This Is Home: A Refugee Story is a moving and eye-opening documentary that explores the modern refugee experience, using a profound, intimate, and empathetic lens. Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018, and later earning the Audience Award in the World Cinema Documentary category, this film is a powerful reminder of the human faces and stories behind the headlines and public policy debates on refugees.

Directed by Alexandra Shiva, This Is Home traverses the terrain of cultural understanding, human struggle and resilience. The film’s focus is on four Syrian families who are resettled in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, and tasked with rebuilding their lives amid a myriad of logistical, cultural, and emotional challenges. Following the families’ journey over the course of eight months, this documentary delicately captures the complex reality refugees face, political rhetoric notwithstanding.

From day one, the viewers find themselves sharing in the hopes, fears and bewilderments of the families. We witness as they arrive in their new environment, a stark change from what they once knew, and attempt to quickly acclimatize to an entirely different culture and language. Witnessing their lives through personalized, in-depth storytelling fosters a profound sense of connection and understanding, as we take part in their realities of attempting to negotiate daily life in an entirely new world.

At the heart of This Is Home is an exploration of identity and survival, and the intricate path to self-sufficiency. The families immediately begin an uphill struggle to find employment, equip themselves with English language skills, and navigate cultural norms extraordinarily different from their homeland. Faced with their limited time assistance from the International Rescue Committee, the pressure to independently support their families post-deadline adds an element of urgency to an already harrowing ordeal.

However, This Is Home also reminds the audience that resilience and hope coexist alongside struggle. Each family, in their own unique way, display incredible determination and resourcefulness. There are scenes of laughter and tenacity; bonding with the community and cultural exchange; moments where their adaptability and strength shine through. These, intertwined with the challenges encountered: the disenchantment with delayed dreams, grappling with the trauma of war-torn pasts, concerns about family members left behind and the frustration of navigating an unfamiliar system, construct a broad spectrum of the refugee experience.

Beyond the families' stories, This Is Home subtly sheds light on the realities of resettlement agencies and their staff. Watching their tireless work, the audience catches a glimpse of the pressures these organizations face, the limitations of the system, and the immense responsibility that rest on their shoulders.

Shiva’s direction beautifully marries intimacy with empathy. Striking a thoughtful balance between reality and spectacle, she puts the documentary medium to its best, most empathetic use. Her ability to simply observe and record without inserting a political agenda makes This Is Home a humanistic study, offering a raw, unpolished look at survival, resilience and resettlement.

Cinematically, the film is seen as a quiet powerhouse. The filming is patient and compassionate, capturing everyday activities in a way that makes them not mundane but intensely meaningful. The cinematography is detailed, attentive, and sensitively executed. The narratives unfold with respectful restraint, allowing the families to speak for themselves, challenge stereotypes, and defy misconceptions.

The movie delivers a vital perspective in an era of escalating global displacement, forcefully humanizing an experience often lost in statistics and news cycles. This Is Home manages to be both a cinematic achievement and a powerful social document that brings to the fore the unfolding history of displaced individuals navigating their way through uncertainty.

The documentary not only showcases the struggle of starting from scratch in a foreign land away from your roots, but also stands testament to the strength, resilience, and indomitable spirit of human beings. By bringing us directly into the homes and lives of these refugee families, This Is Home: A Refugee Story transforms an oftentimes abstract and politicized topic into something deeply personal, fostering empathy, understanding, and reflection among viewers.