VOICES IN DEEP

Australia, 2023, 94 minutes, Colour.

Hannah Sims, Christos Karavevas, Angeliki Papoulia, Kostas Nikouli.

Directed by Jason Raftopoulos.

Voices Australia  in Deep has been written and directed by Jason Raftopoulos, maker of short films, his second feature. He is an Australian filmmaker of Greek background.

Refugees entering Europe from the Middle East and from Africa in the 2010s was a major immigration shift, already strong at this time but even stronger in 2015, the challenge to European countries and the European Union, their borders, allowing in refugees. The number entering had serious repercussions in subsequent years, hardening of attitudes, political moving to the right and the condemnation of refugees, closing borders, racism within the countries.

However, this is a story set in Athens, location photography, the Australian actor, Hannah Sims, but the rest of the cast Greek. And the use of languages, Greek, English, Arabic.

A singular characteristic of the filmmaking is the director’s choice of fixed camera, even when hand-held, all the action taking place within the frame, on the one hand, with its very long takes, somewhat static while, on the other hand, any movement is from the camera fixed on a car, focus on driver and passengers, or views from the back of a moving vehicle.

While inpatient audiences who like action and movement may find this very difficult, the filmmaker wants the audience to stop and look, seriously look, and for quite some time, observing, reflecting, being challenged.

The film opens with an underwater sequence, the bottom of a boat, than a focus on refugee faces staring ahead, then a glimpse of the Navy to the rescue.

As regards the narrative, the focus is on Bobby, one of the Navy personnel, ready to return to Australia. The other focus is on the Syrian, Tarek, with his younger brother, finding accommodation and work difficult to come by.

Bobby later tells her story, the story of an ugly child, herself, a difficult childhood, joining the Navy, going overseas and volunteering, but now ready to come back to Australia, collecting mussels on the rocks and selling them, or attempting to sell them on the black market. She is also emotionally unsettled, exposing herself, encountering a middle-aged woman and an affair with her.

Tarek applies for accommodation but the list is long, can’t find work, encounters a pimp, works in massage and prostitution. There is an episode where his younger brother is invited to a wealthy mansion to work for a social gathering but is actually being groomed by the house manager for the owner.

The attitude of the filmmaker is nonjudgemental, telling the stories, that this is what is happening, hardships for both Bobby and for Tarek and his brother.

A small budget film, a reminder of the worldwide plight of refugees, welcome and unwelcome, and the continuing consequences as hostility towards refugees increased during the 2020s.

1. Australian film and director? Setting? Athens setting? Cast, languages, Greek, English, Arabic?
2. The title, the different characters and their voices? The deep, the sea, the situations, people out of the depths?
3. 2015, refugees on the move, from the Middle East, from Syria, people smugglers, on the Aegean, drownings, landing in Greece? Surviving in Greece? Lack of accommodation, lack of work, prostitution? The contrast with Bobby, Australian, volunteer, surviving, troubles?
4. The opening, underwater, the bottom of the boat, the long focus on the refugees on their faces, eyes straight ahead, the Navy and the boat, coming to the rescue?
5. The visual style of the film, the fixed camera and action within the frame, movement coming with the camera on the vehicle, the focus on drivers and passengers, views from the back of vehicles? The long takes, the demands on the audiences to stay fixed and focused, seriously looking at the characters and situations?
6. Bobby’s story, Australian background, countryside, her telling the tale of the ugly girl, her moving away from home, the Navy, volunteering, work in the Aegean, finishing and preparing to go home, on the rocks, the mussels, packing them, the ice, trying to sell them, the black market, the various contacts, setting up meetings, restaurants, the police? The accommodation, the hotel, exposing herself, the psychological attitude, prostitution? In the park, exposing herself, Gloria passing, returning? At home with Gloria, Gloria caring for her mother, the friendship, the sexual approach, the bond between the two women? The travels together, on the boat and the sea, the story of the dead child, the return, leaving Gloria, Bobby to return home?
7. Tarek’s story, with his brother, applying for accommodation, on the waiting list, their taking shelter, their friends? Tarek and Masi, the pimp, prostitution, the scene with the elderly man, massage and sex, on the streets, picked up in the car, the conversation with the man, Tarek beaten up, Masi and his anger, finding the man, the brutal beating?
8. The younger brother, his age, the girl, friendship, moving away from Masi, on the beach, going to the house, the woman, the proposition, offering him money, work, his accepting, his return, having to put on the dress, the man, the setup, sexual exploitation, the boy running away?
9. Tarek again applying for accommodation, care for his brother, what future?
10. A small film, the writer-director and his Greek ancestry, an Australian perspective on Europe and refugees in the 2010s?