Family (dir. Sami Saif and Phie Ambo)

This is a strange documentary. Something about it reminded me of a Hollywood movie. I think it was to do with the horrendous 'epic' music and editing which seemed like a conveyor belt to dramatic moments. It worked though. I cried at all the right bits. The film is about Sami (who directs the film with his girlfriend Phie) and his journey to find his father. When I read the blurb about this film, I wasn't particularly interested in this kind of story as it would seem a fairly predictable flowchart of possible outcomes. In this sense, it was predictable and despite Sami being pretty annoying (until he meets one of his brothers in Yemen) it was a moving story. Abandoned by his father at a young age, his older brother committing suicide, which was quickly followed by his mother's death, Sami and his girlfriend decide to make a film about his search for his father. A few long-distance phone calls later (Sami is Danish-Arab) and Sami is in Yemen where he meets countless relatives that are instantly and overwhelmingly loving. It was moving to see him with his older brother who was so warm and loving towards a doubtful and insecure Sami. It is infectious and Sami ends up comforting and supporting his older brother as he opens up about his own childhood experiences of their father. It's not a film I would ever bother watching again because there was nothing really beyond the description on the back of the DVD, but there were some lovely moments in the film.