This award-winning debut feature from Sundance is an empathetic take on the anxieties over identity and belonging as Afghan refugees hope to start a new life in Iran.

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Winner of the Directing Award at Sundance under the World Cinema Dramatic category, In the Land of Brothers marks the feature debut of Raha Amirfazli and Alireza Ghasemi. 

Told in three chapters across roughly twenty years (time-marked as 2001, 2011 and 2021), the film explores the underacknowledged stories of Afghan refugees hoping to start a new life in Iran. 

It is no coincidence that those two decades started with the post-9/11 US invasion of Afghanistan and ended with the humiliating withdrawal of the American military. 

While one can read the political subtext, In the Land of Brothers is much more humanistic in approach, as the three chapters (connected by the appearances, however substantial or fleeting, of recurring characters) tackle the problems that plague their existence as ‘illegal aliens’. 

“Are you an Afghan?”

Without saying too much, the first chapter is about Iranian authorities exploiting the Afghans, while the second part centers on an Afghan housekeeper who faces an unexpected dilemma that could result in her deportation. 

Finally, the last segment is about an old Afghan couple who must contend with bittersweet news that will change their lives.  Put together quite assuredly, the film has a subtle emotional pull that builds to a denouement that may be described as powerful yet restrained. 

While these stories can be despairing to a certain degree, what keeps In the Land of Brothers from turning into a bleak and depressing experience is its empathetic tone. 

Narratives about refugee crises are not new, particularly border dramas (a fine example from last year was Agnieszka Holland’s harrowing Green Border), but here is a somewhat refreshing take on refugees who have found some kind of ‘safe haven’ in another country, though anxieties over identity and belonging don’t quite abate.    

Grade: B+

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