Marisa volunteers at a refugee camp, excited to be keeping the children occupied. The first time she sees them, her face lights up, she is the most motherly of women. She is so loving with the children that she is warned about cuddling them and inciting jealousy over special treatment. She is often told to keep her distance for fear of imposing ideas and generally is discouraged from being too close.
We get little back story on her, although we see through her video calls that her own grown kids no longer have time or need for her, and she clearly feels slighted, not to mention unneeded. Her liberal caring nature gets her in trouble when she finds an orphan boy, Ahmed, who needs caring for and singles him out as a potential son/grandson figure. I did feel for her, but also understood the protestations of the other camp staff who look at things more from a legal standpoint. Then she takes matters into her own hands, doubtless believing she is doing the right thing, but going way too far. This forms the turning point of the film tonally and plot-wise.
A long set up may be justified but I found the first half rather aimless and toothless, Marisa's actions after created considerable suspense and had me much more interested. I did feel that there could have been more close examination of Marisa to get us into her mind. How the story ends is interesting, the plot ends as expected, but her character arc doesn't.
3 out of 5
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