A comment on Ensilumi.
Fairytale summer days, children’s laughter, a happy and ideal world. In Ensilumi, the idyll of summer and a family that loves each other dearly are confronted with reality, which inevitably and threateningly announces itself.
Ramin’s family lives in a very small space, in a one-room apartment – close together with other refugee families. It is only a temporary shelter which they stay at in hope to be granted permanent asylum in Finland. The parents are full of love for their children and try everything to make the situation as comfortable as possible for them. They try to shield them from the worries of impending deportation. But in just one room, this is not always easy. Even the bathroom is only separated from the living area by a small curtain and is the only place for any intimate questions within the family’s home, for example when it comes to impressing girls. Friends from other refugee families come by all the time and are happy to stay for a small party or a cheerful evening.
The summer is coming to an end and with that Ramin is starting his high school years. More and more he encounters the challenges of growing up.
The film by director Hamy Ramezan is characterized by warm colors and moving string music with a melancholic touch to it. It allows the viewers to indulge in their own happy memories of wonderful summer days, when everything was perfect. This evoked bliss creates a deep empathy for the family. In contrast to this is the underlying ominous feeling that the deportation, which has been looming for so long, could now happen any day now. This uneasy foreshadowing stands in contrast with the laughter of the school class or the awkward dance class in which Ramin finally masters the challenge of asking his crush for a dance. Shostakovich’s 2nd Waltz heralds the showdown.
Ensilumi is a film that shows the growing up of a completely normal boy. Together with his best friend, who delights the audience with his steadfastness and ignorance of gender norms, and a loving family, as anyone could hope to have, we accompany Ramin on his way. This is what makes the film so round. That it works so detached from the framing story and clearly shows that in the end we all go through the same problems in our youth – no matter where we come from.
What is impressive about this film is that despite the heavy subject matter in itself, it is primarily about the family and this particular time of their lives. How they came to Finland or what happens after their deportation is not discussed further, but in this setting also not relevant.
With Ensilumi, director Ramezan achieves a harmonious balancing act between serious subject matter and the childlike lightness of a boy growing up, touching the audience deeply.
