Another absorbing film from Tony Gatlif, this time following two people migrating against the flow, ie from Europe to North Africa. As usual Gatlif expresses his talent for exploring realities that mainstream cinema tends to ignore, and disclosing beauty and integrity in unlikely places. Although he presents many scenes in a very artistic and sensitive way, there's also a very primordial, basic instinct quality to much of the film and it's perhaps because of this that the cathartic climax is so effective. In common with many of his other films, it is full of real life character studies, beautifully edited, but he also has a great talent for presenting culture as it is, or might be, without analysing or sanitising it.