Rent The Green Border (2023)

A propaganda film supporting illegal immigration to Europe - The Green Border review by PV

I loved this director's last 2 films, the Czech CHARALATAN and the English language MR JONES which tells an important story of Ukraine's Holodomor famines of early 30s and what a Welsh journalist exposed it to the world, or tried to and paid with his life when Stalin ordered his murder. Also the older film EUROPA EUROPE.

But this I'm afraid is pure propaganda. One has to ask WHY these 'refugees'; head to the EU (and Britain) from Asia and Africa and not go east or south to countries nearer their homeland with similar culture and religion and language? The reasons are purely economic. Lax laws, UK, EU and UN act as a magnet attracting them - thes ebadly need reforming. Uk refugee law created over 70 years ago when there were 2 billion people in the world; there are now over 8 billion mostly caused by a population explosion in the global south. That cannot continue; and Europe will have to build a wall and start deportations too.

Very wrong to try and tie in refugees from Asia and Africa with Ukrainians fleeing to Poland - those Ukrainians share a culture, language (Slavic family) and Christian heritage and faith with the Poles, so fine, AND they will return, most of the, to rebuild Ukraine one day, NOT AT ALL the same as people from Afghanistan, Syria, Asia, African states like the Congo, and even Morocco here (where Brits holiday) coming to Europe illegally to claim asylum because EU law stupidly states that anyone setting foot in EU has the right to apply for asylum which takes years and ditto bad UK law the same AND so many see UK as a laxland of free money and housing and healthcare and work to head here in small boats, TURN OFF THE MAGNET and then none would come and none would die in the attempt AND amoral criminal gangs would not make millions from this awful brutal trade.

This is a propaganda film, which is misguided and wrongheaded in my opinion. It would work better as a documentary - we get that at the end a bit re the Ukrainians heading to poland which is a TOTALLy separate issue to Africans/Asians paying criminals money to get taken to rich Europe as economic chancer refugees MOST OF WHOM of male, unlike what is shown here. See who arrives in England on small boats. Almost all younger men, mostly Muslim too. Some terrorists and criminals amongst them for sure,

What a mess. Like the film which is meandering, overlong, the last half hour, shamelessly tries to like Ukraine/Poland issue with the African/Asian migrant issue and here specifically the was BeloRussia's dictator and Putin;s bestie invited them in to cause problems for the EU and Poland. Turkey complicit in its flights it seems too.

A truly cringeworthy rap towards the end is the propaganda icing on the cake, Maybe people should look at spiralling crime rates in German, Scandinavian cities and realise most of the rise is due to migrants - and inthe UK 35%+ in our prisons are foreign-born.

The issue is way more complex than this simplistic propaganda film claims.

Everybody should watch this film once; nobody will wish to watch it twice - The Green Border review by Darius

This film lays bare the misery that greets refugees driven out of their homes and countries by warfare and repression. It shows refugees used by pawns by Lukashenko of Belarus, whose troops force refugees over/under the wire into the Polish side of the "green border" forest/swampland on either side. It shows Polish troops forcing them back, having been brutalised by the then-far right Polish government into throwing pregnant women and, on occasion, dead bodies back across the border wire. It shows the son of the featured Syrian family drowning in a swamp, the Afghan English teacher with him being unable to save him. It is a thoroughly depressing film, with the only bright spots being provided by the Polish aid workers who do what they can to help the refugees at the risk of persecution from the authorities.