Presented as if it were a documentary, which would lead one to believe that the cinematographer (and possibly the director), stood idly by while some of the characters died of suffocation in transit aboard a sealed trailer, "In This World" would be more effective if it acknowledged openly that this was a work of fiction based on the realities faced by Afghan refugees trying to make their way from camps in Pakistan to the West -- in this case to London. That it is fiction becomes obvious after a while since no cinematographer or director could have been present if the incidents shown on screen were real. But I resented the deception and, thereafter, disbelieved the story although it was probably true in spirit even while it was clearly not true. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction; often fiction is more true than faked reality. As a fictional work, I would have rated "In This World" at 7.5. As a phony documentary, it is scarcely worth a 4.
Review of In This World
