Saw this at the Berlinale 2017, where it was part of the official competition for the Golden Bear. The synopsis on the festival website was not really promising, but my prejudice disappeared gradually during the screening. Although the movie has a certain inclination to become a fairy tale where everyone will live happily ever after, the ending has some darker sides to downplay the assumed optimistic story. One of these darker sides lies in the several times appearing "Finland security" men, who are up to no good.

Our first main protagonist Khaled is seeking asylum in Finland. From the outside, it looks like a very clean process as far as shown to us. The idle waiting time related to the asylum application procedure does hide the rough edges we often read about, namely that asylum seekers among themselves are making trouble when seeing others with a different religion or other political position, or even worse when seeing GLBT behavior that they are not prepared to allow. Intolerance can be very problematic here, given that the people are packed together, while at the same time being bored to death, doomed to wait, unable to do anything useful. Due to their numbers and possible variations in asylum seekers, it is a sheer impossible task to sort and separate them in such a way that such troubles are prevented. In this movie, however, the asylum seekers are living harmoniously together, and help each other where they can without seeking favors in return. What does Finland do what we apparently are doing wrong in The Netherlands??

Our second main protagonist Wikström follows a completely different path. On a random morning, he leaves his wedding ring and house keys with his wife, who is clearly alcohol addicted. He sells his stock but keeps the storage space (will become unexpectedly useful later). What also proves useful is his poker face, and he succeeds in multiplying his amount of cash considerably, to the extent that he can buy a restaurant including staff. The capabilities of the restaurant staff that he takes over with the rest of the inventory and furniture, do not look very promising from the outset, but he keeps them nevertheless.

For the first 30 minutes or so, the stories of above two main protagonists run their completely separate course. We see them in turns, both paths clearly delineated, simply by having other people and another decor visible. After his asylum request being denied, and just before being transported to a plane to be sent back, Khaled escapes and starts an uncertain life on the street. He is found sleeping between the trashcans by fresh restaurateur Wikström, from which moment on their lives become mingled.

The restaurant business does not go as well as may be hoped. Given the quality of the staff that he inherited when buying the restaurant, it can be no surprise from the first day on. For example, when someone orders sardines from the menu, that seems to mean that he receives a half opened can. More humor follows later on when they try out different restaurant types, e.g. sushi being prepared out of a cooking book. Other experiments also hardly succeed. A surprise inspection is handled in a way not exactly by-the-book but they pass. These humoristic scenes are intermixed with the more serious main line of the story.

The story includes a series of lucky strikes and happy coincidences that is overwhelming, bordering on statistically impossible. But otherwise there would have been no story to tell, so who am I to complain. The musical fragments we witnessed, most in cafés or restaurants, even one where Khaled plays the sitar (is that the proper name?),albeit not relevant to the story itself, are included (I think) as ornamentation or as local folklore, or simply happened to be available and deemed a waste when left out.

All in all, this movie is much better than what the average synopsis promises. On the other hand, it is not easy to describe what it is exactly that makes the movie attractive. The serious undertone cannot be overlooked, given the hostilities encountered by Khaled, and the motivation for the denial of his asylum request is also a farce, based on wrong facts that we see refuted on TV, and gives Finland a bad name. However, the parallel story with Wikström and his restaurant takes good care of ample relief from the heavy material. I usually lower my expectations when a book or movie builds on two or more parallel story lines, by assuming that none of the stories could offer sufficient material to stand on its own feet, but this time my prejudice proved unjustified. The way both stories were mixed without disturbing the logical flow of events, may be one of the reasons this movie was awarded by the International Jury of the Berlinale 2017.

"Toivon tuolla puolen" or "The Other Side of Hope" is a Finnish 95-minute movie from this year (2017) and the newest work by the country's most known filmmaker ever I guess: Aki Kaurismäki. He has not worked on new projects since 2013, so expectations may be a bit high for this one here, but eventually they are not disappointed, even if the big awards recognition the Berlin Film Festival gave this one may be slightly exaggerated. This is basically the story of two men: a refugee (yep current issue) and a Finnish man who needs to sort out his professional life again at a relatively high age. Early on we see them for themselves before they meet each other and this is probably where the movie is at its weakest. The interactions aren't too interesting to be honest. The part with the lady talking about going to Mexico was just plain weird, even if some people in the audience of my showing found it funny for whatever reason. And the early scenes with the refugee felt fairly forgettable and generic as well in my opinion. These were part of when the film took itself more seriously than it really should. I think it was at its very best when they just went for the comedy really, i.e. for example when they turn the restaurant in an Asian restaurant. Evidence of this is enough when there is a reference to an Indian restaurant and audience members (including myself) thought this would be their next attempt, but it was an actual Indian restaurant. The restaurant scenes were just the best, especially the parts that included the bearded guy working there.

The ending I wasn't too fond of either unfortunately. It's once again too much drama and I expect more than random stuff about fascist wanting to set immigrants on fire or stabbing them. Also the way they were depicted as idiots calling him a Jew did not feel as convincing or smart as it was supposed to. So yeah, I definitely wish this could have been a much lighter work. The final shot certainly shows us that the drama is dominant here and not the comedy. But that's of course personal preference. other audience members may have liked the drama parts much more than the comedy. Anyway, Kaurismäki also includes some music in here and with that he goes back to the roots of his Leningrad Cowboys filmmaking days. I thought it was a solid little addition. As a whole thanks to the middle part basically I enjoyed the watch overall without being too enthusiastic about it and I also think it ended up not half as deep in terms of characters or story-telling as Kaurismäki would have wanted it to be. But why does it have to. It can work for other reasons too and actually it does. I wonder if Finland will submit it to the next Oscars. The subject is one that certainly can help it in scoring a nomination. But it's still a long long time until then with this year's Oscars only being a month in the past. Make sure you see this little film if it plays near you. You will not be disappointed. Just don't travel miles for it.

Brothers Aki and Mika Kaurismäki are probably Finland's most famous directors. I haven't seen all their movies, but I understand that many of them depict the country as a dismal place. They're friends with Jim Jarmusch, and the Helsinki segment of his "Night on Earth" starred cast members from their movies.

Which brings us to "Toivon tuolla puolen" ("The Other Side of Hope" in English). This one focuses on the refugees from the Arab world who have tried to make their way to Europe over the past decade. In this case, the refugee is a man from Syria. His description of what happened to his house makes one thing clear: whether the perpetrators were government forces, ISIS, US warplanes or Russian warplanes, the result was the same for the people on the ground. On top of it, Finnish authorities conclude that he has no authentic reason to seek asylum in Finland, but then he watches on the news as more horror comes to Syria.

Like many Scandinavian movies, this one is understated: characters will communicate with each other merely by looking at each other (even the gambler who befriends the refugee). There's nothing stimulating here; it's all about the interpersonal relationships. An unusual aspect gets added with musicians playing the blues.

Overall, this is one that I recommend. Focusing on a variety of issues, it's bound to make the viewer think hard about what's going on in the world, and how it affects each individual. Good one.