FLIGHT FROM HEAVEN
Netherlands 2003 | 52 Min. | BetaSP, OmeU
Together with the other javanese youths from the boarding school, the young teenager Johan is to learn the Arabic language and fitting piety. His schoolbooks come from Saudi Arabia. He enters a world in which Osama Bin Laden and Jamal Islamiah are not known as terrorists, but as fighters of the infidel, and therefore idols. Besides political discussions, social life is structured by the practice of faith through prayer and worship. The constant presence of fellow students and nights spent together in large dormitories make privacy impossible and hinder all forms of individuality.
In FLIGHT FROM HEAVEN, Helmrich’s camera is almost always on the move, and follows the events as they unfold. It strives to detect emotions amongst the characters and the faces of the faithful, in the teachers and the students alike. In this way, he succeeds in endowing his relationship to Johan with a human touch. We watch the young boy discover his school, and witness the changes in his personality. His initial shyness turns into curiosity and respect, but as time goes by, he grows increasingly distrustful. Finally, he flees the school and temporarily returns to his parents - on the very day images of the Bali terrorist attack flicker across the television screen. A mere coincidence?
