Largo

It’s an astonishing turn of events that Largo, a story funded by the refugee council about a Syrian child’s mission to set sail to find his parents, would be released in the weeks following the stunning collapse of the monstrous Assad regime that was cause of so many risking their lives to flee. The hostility many have faced in safe nations is a source of shame – and Max Burgoyne-Moore and Salvatore Scarpa’s short is required watching for those in need of an empathy transplant.

Musa (Zack Elsokari) lives on the coast with sponsor guardian Grace (Tamsin Greig). Having fled the civil war in his native Syria, he awaits the arrival of his parents who have promised to join him – despite the dangerous naval journey they must take. Facing discrimination from locals, Grace does what she can to comfort Musa. But a betrayal triggers the young boy into taking a fateful decision, and using an old boat he has rigged up, he sets sail to find his family.

Largo is a film that leaves a lasting, moving impression. Beautiful and heartbreaking, it asks real questions of its audience – asking how we would react in unfathomable circumstances. The British coastal town that acts as its setting is a purgatory for Musa – a holding cell for him to await a family that viewers sense will never come. It’s a hard enough circumstance – but as it slowly emerges that trust is hard to come by, Musa feels left with no choice but to take his life back into his hands. It turns a mirror on us as a community and a society, and asks whether we are willing to allow the real Musas across the world to come to the same conclusions.

Youngster Zack Elsokari is remarkable in the lead role. A portrayal of childhood trauma has rarely felt so authentic – particularly in his anger in place of expressiveness. Musa displays great innovation, investigation and intelligence, but still struggles to truly understand the world or come to terms with the most likely outcome of his search. His innocence has persevered despite everything that has happened to him, a secret message of hope buried deep in a desperately sad narrative. Tamsin Greig is on typically strong form as Grace, Musa’s guardian who struggles to find the right spot between disciplinarian and caregiver.

The film’s moving finale is set in motion by the actions of children – a group of youngsters whose curiosity around Musa’s life has not yet been set to hatred by their surroundings. It is they who raise the alarm, that triggers the best kind of community response. A town that figuratively pushes Musa away now rallies to pull him back – with the message that isolation and discrimination have tragic ends.

Few films capture the complexity of the child refugee experience better than Largo. At a moment in history when the springs of hope are emerging in Syria, we as individuals are still ultimately powerless to shape the events that lead to crisis. Largo inspires one to change what they can control – their behaviour and empathy towards those in our own communities. It is a riveting and moving short, that will never not be timely.