FREMONT

US, 2023, 91 minutes, Black-and-white.

Anaita Wali Zada, Greg Turkington, Jeremy Allen White, Hilda Schmelling, Siddique Ahmed.

Directed by Babajk Jalili.

Anyone who has visited San Francisco may remember the BART, Bay Area Rapid Transit, and the name, Fremont, to the south of the city. And this is where this film is located.

In fact, most of the film stays within the confines of Fremont but, at the end, it ventures out into the California deserts. And the filmmakers have opted for black-and-white photography.

A lot of the action takes place in a Fortune Cookie factory, handmade cookies, the staff inventing the wise sayings inside. This is where Donya (Anaita Wali Zada) works, a good friend in her co-worker, on good terms with the cheerful manager (but not so much with his wife), going home to her apartment, but stopping on the way for a diner meal, friendly with the manager as they watch television together. A quiet life.

But, Donya is a refugee from Afghanistan, a translator working with the Americans, getting out of the country, her family still there, something of a lonely figure but a strong figure. Which means that she is a challenge to Americans (and to citizens of any country where Afghans have fled to escape the Taleban), trying to find a new place to settle, memories of the past, the challenge to her identity. And she finds it very difficult to sleep.

She wants some sleeping pills and has a consultation visit with the psychologist. We find it very interesting to see her approach, her determination, the personality of the psychologist, his ways of dealing with his clients – and his promotion of Jack London’s White Dog as a symbol for their situations.

When the elderly writer of the sayings collapses at work, Donya is given the job. And she decides to include a phone number in one of the fortune cookie’s and to wait and see what happens.

She does get a reply and she decides to go out to visit the person who replied who tells her about a deer for her. There are some unexpectedly comic touches when she arrives – and receives a literal statue of a deer. But she stops at a garage on the way, her car needing some attention. She meets the quiet mechanic (Jeremy Allen White), goes to a diner and he follows, some conversation, and she then drives on.

But, she returns. He is very quiet. As an intense look. It affects her. And we are left with Donya out there in the desert, the weight of her life in Afghanistan, the months in the United States, her wondering and our wondering what her future will be.

1. The value of small budget-independent films? Quality filmmaking? Opportunities for filmmakers and performers? Exploration of social issues? Distribution and challenge?
2. The title, the Bay Area of San Francisco, the suburb, the confined view, the factory, apartments, the travel into the California countryside, the small towns, diner, garage? A particular world? In black and white?
3. The background of Afghanistan, from the 19th century and occupations, Russia in the 20^th century, the Taliban, 9/11, the Americans, international troops, occupation, progress, the retreat of American forces, the coming of the Taliban, rigid rule, suppression of women, sharia law, many fleeing, the deaths?
4. The reality and symbolism of the Fortune Cookie factory, the texts being composed in the factory, the personal wrapping?
5. Donya and her story, the initial impact, seeing her at work with the fortune cookies, conversations with Joanna, the Chinese owners, the old lady and her death, a cheery husband, the severe wife? A context for looking at Donya, her apartment, unable to sleep, conversations with the neighbour, taking his appointment at the psychiatrist, the receptionist, the doctor, her insistence?
6. The revelation of her story, family, as a translator for the Americans, a desk job, supplying information and technical translations? Her family thinking her a traitor? Her being able to escape from Afghanistan, other translators and their deaths?
7. Her finding herself in Fremont, eight months, the memories of the past, unable to sleep? Friends with her neighbours? Conversations with Joanna, her promotion to writing the fortune cookie sayings? Her skills, putting the message and a phone number, Joanna phoning her, the reply, seeming authentic, the signature with the Deer? Donya and her deciding to go to meet the man, a literal deer statue for the shop? Her reaction?
8. The meals, at the diner, the owner, the conversations, watching the television together?
9. The sessions with the psychiatrist, his initial reluctance, his explanations, her return, laconic, giving the information, filling in her background? His responses? Her wanting sleeping pills? His use of the novel, White Dog, reading of the passage, his being moved, the parallels of the part wolf, outsider, finding a place? The effects of the therapy?
10. The drive, the oil in the car, the mechanic, his offering to help, a loner, his explanation himself, being alone, wanting to talk, the diner, offering the coffee, her return, the cup of coffee, the quiet attraction? Her leaving, getting the deer, the return, giving the mechanic the deer, the next cup of coffee? And Donya’s future?
11. An opportunity in the 2020s to reflect on the plight of Afghanistan, the rule of the Taliban, the many migrants fleeing Afghanistan, the countries receiving them, welcome or not, adapting, future?