Limbo
**Seen for the 2021 Atlanta Film Festival.
Ben Sherrock’s “Limbo” puts us in the same sense of time standing still that it does its characters. That’s both an effective way of telling this story, but also a questionable one; as a filmmaker, you are asking for a lot of patience from your audience, and even with a brisk 103-minute running time, I’m not sure whether it earns that patience entirely. Having said that, Sherrock has a story he wants to tell that inspires our empathy, and holds our attention as his protagonist is in a state of limbo as to what his future will look like.
Omar (Amir El-Masry) and his family have fled Syria during the Civil War that has engulfed the country for years. While his parents went to Turkey, Omar went to Scotland, where he is currently in a home in the Highlands with other asylum seekers waiting on their status to be confirmed. They often spend their time just outside- or inside- talking, but they occasionally go to a nearby phone and call their relatives, or attend classes to help them assimilate in terms of getting jobs or interacting with people. (The first one we see is about consent, and it is as absurd as you think it is.) Omar’s brother stayed in Syria to fight, but the waiting for Omar- who’s a musician, and always carries his oud with him, but has been unable to play because of a broken arm- is making him wonder if he made the right choice. Even when he gets his cast off, it doesn’t “sound right” when he tries to play, and given the way some of his fellow refugees see their dreams get dashed, it only makes him more anxious about his decision.
Most of us will never have to experience something like what Omar or Fahrad (Vikash Bhai)- his best friend in the asylum house, who worships Freddy Mercury- are going through. I certainly didn’t when my family moved to Georgia from Ohio in 1988. Sherrock’s film is most impactful when it is capturing Omar’s anxiety about being alone in this strange land, unsure of what his path is going to be. The moments between Omar, Fahrad and brothers Abedi (Kwabena Ansah) and Wasef (Ola Orebiyi) are light and amusing, but they also are tinged with sadness as the realization of their situation builds. When Fahrad steals a chicken, and names it Freddy Jr., it seems ripe for tension, but when the police come knocking, it’s not for the thing we’re expecting. “Limbo” is a human story that works best in quiet moments, like one later where Omar and his brother have their first real discussion in many years. Will that be enough for him to put the emotional uncertainty he has had since arriving to Scotland behind him and play for the first time. After all, as his father says, “A musician who does not play is dead.” By the end, it seems as though Omar might be coming back to life.
