Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

The Other Side of Hope Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 17, 2018

Aki Kaurismaki's "The Other Side of Hope" (2017) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; footage from a press conference held at the Berlin International Film Festival; exclusive new video interview with actor Sherwan Haji; music videos; and more. In Finnish, English, and Arabic, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The refugee

Aki Kaurismaki has never been an apolitical filmmaker, but in recent years he has been slowly altering the unique balance between the ultra-dry sense of humor and social satire that typically defines his work in a way that seems to be pointing to a new and permanent shift in his creative process. Indeed, until Lights in the Dusk there was always a substantially larger dose of the former, but Le Havre signaled an obvious desire to change the status quo and with The Other Side of Hope now there is clearly more of the latter. It is a change for the worse. By promoting big political causes and ultimately attempting to transform his films into relevant barometers of global socio-political trends, Kaurismaki is bound to lose the abstract flavor that made his films different and attractive. He needs to remain a cranky Finnish auteur who does not give a damn about the global ‘voices of reason’ because he is at his very best when he is brazenly witty and funny, not when he attempts to defend a political cause.

The Other Side of Hope is about two men who -- for different reasons that are gradually detailed throughout the film -- have lost plenty in their lives and are getting ready to rebuild them from scratch. The first is Wikstrom (Sakari Kuosmanen), an aging small-time Finnish businessman and big-time gambler, who has recently left his wife and decided to liquidate his business. Shortly after he sells the last load of designer shirts to a former competitor, Wikstrom enters an underground poker club, wins big, and then purchases a tiny restaurant on the outskirts of the city that has been run into the ground by some crook that hasn’t paid his employees in months. The old man then proceeds to change the restaurant’s image with a few quick and very bold moves that amuse the disillusioned employees but also convince them that they finally have a boss that cares.

The second man is a Syrian named Khaled (Sherwan Haji) who has entered Finland illegally but hopes to be recognized as a political refugee and granted residency. Khaled is also determined to do whatever it takes to find out what has happened to his sister, also a refugee, who may or may not have been detained by authorities somewhere across the Austrian border. After a number of interviews with Finnish immigration officials Khaled is denied legal status and informed that he will be extradited to Turkey, from where he can think of different ways to reunite with his sister. Hours after the immigration authorities make their decision official, Khaled escapes from the refugee center where he has been kept and bumps into Wikstrom, who then promptly decides to help him settle down in Finland and allows him to move into his underground garage. However, a series of experiences quickly reveal that many local residents may not be willing to accept the foreigner in their community.

The blending of comedy, drama and politics simply does not work in this film. One half of it basically targets regular Finns the old-fashioned way, making them look like the ultimate oddballs who most of the time behave like awful actors rehearsing a terrible play. This is classic Kaurismaki material loaded with very dark humor that does not disappoint. The other half, however, creates all the ‘important’ contrasts that are meant to convince the audience that Finland is this incredibly suspicious and intolerant European country that does not understand the dilemmas people like Khaled face. The moral contrasts that are promoted here are so extreme that even the old Soviet ideologues that used to work for Mosfilm would have found them absurd.

There is no denying that Kaurisamki can read his fellow countrymen brilliantly, but his take on the refugee crisis that is threatening to reshape Western Europe is appallingly naïve. It is essentially rationalized with a series of awful generalizations and politically correct messages that have been used by many of the politicians representing powerful multi-national organizations that are actually responsible for it.

The Other Side of Hope Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Aki Kaurismaki's The Other Side of Hope arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The follo9wing text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"Approved by director Aki Kaurismaki, this new digital transfer was created in 2K resolution on a Oxberry film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative. The film features a fully digital soundtrack. The 5.1 surround audio for this release was mastered from the original digital audio files using Pro Tools HD.

Transfer supervisor and colorist: Dirk De Jonghe/De Jonghe Film Postproduction, Kortrijk, Belgium."

There is no doubt in my mind that there is one digital master that is being offered to distributors around the world. I did some direct comparisons with the Region-B from Curzon/Artificial Eye that we reviewed last year and the only very minor difference that I was able to see was in the gamma settings. This release is marginally darker and if I had to guess I would say that it has the proper gamma levels, though while viewing the film it is extremely difficult to spot specific differences. Some of the same very light black crush is retained here, but depth and clarity remain quite impressive. Fluidity is excellent. There are no image stability issue of conventional encoding anomalies to address. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Other Side of Hope Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Finnish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (with portions of Arabic and English). Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

Aki Kurismaki's films do not have elaborate sound designs and The Other Side of Hope continues the tradition. Indeed, there is a good mix of organic sounds and noises, but overall dynamic intensity is quite modest. The dialog is always very crisp, clean, stable, and easy to follow. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in our review.

The Other Side of Hope Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - In English, Arabic and Finnish, with imposed English subtitles where necessary. (2 min, 1080p).

• Sherwan Haji - in this new video interview, actor Sherwan Haji explains how he was cast to play the character of Sherwan Haji in The Other Side of Hope and discusses his work with director Aki Kaurismaki and his real life journey from Syria to Finland. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in 2017. In English, not subtitled. (15 min, 1080p).

• Aki Kaurismaki at the Berlin Film Festival - presented here is footage from the press conference that was held after the premiere of The Other Side of Hope the Berlin Film Festival where the film won Silver Bear Award for Best Director. The panel is: Aki Kaurismaki and actors Sakari Kuosmanen and Sherwan Haji. In English. (29 min, 1080i).

• Aki and Peter - The Other Side of Hope is dedicated to Aki Kaurismaki's longtime friend and collaborator, the film critic and festival programmer Peter von Bagh. In this new video essay, filmmaker Daniel Raim explores Aki Kaurismaki's oeuvre through the words of Peter von Bagh. In Finnish and English, with optional English subtitles where necessary.(12 min, 1080p).

• Music Videos - four music videos with full versions of the songs that are heard in The other Side of Hope.
  
  1. "Kaipunni Tango"
  2. "Midnight Man"
  3. "Skulaa Tai Felaa"
  4. "Tama Maa"

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring an essay by critic Girish Shambu.

The Other Side of Hope Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Aki Kaurismaki's latest film, The Other Side of Hope, is as transparent and politically correct as the hundreds of films that Soviet directors made during the Cold War era to defend all sorts of different political causes. This is very unfortunate. I am a big admirer of the Finnish director but I find the recent politicization of his work to be very disappointing. Criterion's upcoming Blu-ray release is sourced from the same master that last year Curzon/Artificial Eye worked with to produce their local release in the United Kingdom, but has a superior selection of supplemental features.