In This World

Starring: Jamal Udin Torabi, Enayatullah Jumaudin

RS: 3.5of 4 Stars

2003 Foreign

Michael Winterbottom, who is turning out to be one of the best and boldest directors working today, switches gears from the punk-rock scene of 24 Hour Party People to a haunting story of immigration. Two Afghan boys -- sixteen-year-old Jamal (Jamal Udin Torabi) and his older cousin Enayat (Enayatullah) -- leave their Pakistani refugee camp and try to make it to London via Iran, Turkey and Italy. Though the film looks like a documentary, it isn't. Instead, without an ounce of phony Hollywood uplift, Winterbottom's film cuts right to the heart.

PETER TRAVERS
(October 23, 2003)