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Children of the Enemy

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Sweden, Denmark, Qatar · 2021
1h 39m
Director Gorki Glaser-Müller
Starring Patricio Gálvez, Clive Stafford Smith, Isabel Coles, Rena Effendi
Genre Documentary

Patricio Galvey is in the middle of an almost unimaginable nightmare. He has not only lost his daughter, who allowed herself to be radicalised and travelled with her white, Swedish husband to Syria, where they both got killed. His seven grandchildren, aged 1 to 8, are now stuck in a prison camp in the war-torn country. The 50-year-old Swedish-Chilean Patricio has one mission: to get them out.

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What are critics saying?

70

Film Threat by

Children of the Enemy will give nuance to your understanding of the Syrian conflict, radicalization, and issues revolving around resettlement and citizenship.

60

Los Angeles Times by Gary Goldstein

The dire theme of innocent children being blamed for “the sins of the father” — and the attendant social and political turbulence they face — as efforts are made to find these youngsters a safe and loving place in the world receives a vital spotlight here.

70

Variety by Jessica Kiang

An abundance of earnestness is hardly a fatal flaw in a story as innately complex and moving as this one, especially once it moves beyond its most obvious crescendo, and instead of bowing out in a note of relief and resolution, dares to re-complicate the situation.

50

Screen Daily by Neil Young

The film is most effective in simply conveying the agonising practical realities of Galvez’s quest, an operation involving endless telephone calls and long down-time periods of waiting punctuated by brief flurries of frenzied activity.