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(More customer reviews)Having first hand experience with the US immigration system, I found a lot to relate to in Chasing freedom. Not that I'm in America to chase "freedom" with my situation nothing like the Afghan woman who is at the center of this movie, but like her, I do know what it is like to be caught up in an ineffectual bureaucracy that can take years to make immigration decisions.
For a television film Chasing Freedom is surprisingly well made and well acted, and it's themes, in this post 9/11 world, remains startlingly relevant. How does the United States keep the integrity of it's borders intact and keep out people who seek to do harm to Americans, whilst also welcoming those honest immigrants, who come to seek asylum? It's a tough call, and as this film shows, there are no easy answers.
Meena, the central character in Chasing Freedom is probably emblematic of thousands of refugees from war-torn parts of the world, who come to America, and other developed countries such as Australia, England, and Canada. In most cases their situation is pretty grim, because without resources of money and education, and a good immigration lawyer, many are deported back to their home countries.
Meena (Lela Alizada) is persecuted by the Taliban for running a school for young girls in Afghanistan. She manages to escape and ends up in detention in New Jersey. Her case seems hopeless -she has no money, no proof of identity and she's up against a hostile system that seems more concerned with finding ways to deport asylum seekers than offering them safe haven.
Reluctant help arrives in the form of a pro bono attorney Libby (played by Juliette Lewis) who unenthusiastically and grudgingly takes on her asylum case. Libby is a highflying securities lawyer, and immigration asylum is a foreign world to her. But her boss insists that she do this and a desperate immigration lawyer Eric (Brian Markinson) pleads with her to help him.
Libby's reaction is probably typical of most Americans who nothing about this world; because it's a world that they rarely need to enter. The movie shows quite well how, the lawyers must struggle to cope and make their voices heard within a department that is under-funded, where prejudice against "foreigners" is rampant, and which is overwhelmed by the shear number of immigrants seeking asylum.
As Libby gradually grows in awareness and learns about Meena's horrifying torture and subsequent escape from captivity, she begins to take pity on the girl, and becomes ever more determined to fight for her. One of the best scenes is when she goes up against a rather nonchalant and over-worked immigration judge, who lambastes her for not being fully prepared.
Both Juliette Lewis and Lela Alizada are excellent in their roles, and it's interesting to watch Lewis as Libby transform from a self-obsessed, flustered, and moneyed securities lawyer into a more empathetic and compassionate person, who believes in fighting for human rights.
The film was inspired by a real asylum case handled by a team of dedicated pro bono attorneys from Debevoise and Plimpton and The Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. It is a sobering depiction of the nearly insurmountable obstacles that asylum seekers face when they arrive in the U.S.
This film must see for anyone working with refugee communities, immigration law and ordinary Americans trying to make sense of the World Trade Center bombing and our subsequent response with the Patriots Act and Homeland Security. Mike Leonard September 05.
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Chasing Freedom (2004)
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