Planet In Focus '18 Film Review - Island of Hungry Ghosts

Poh-Lin is a therapist that works with asylum seekers on the Australian territory of Christmas Island off the coast of Indonesia. It's a crossroads of cultures with Chinese, Australian and indigenous peoples exerting their influence.  The spirit world permeates the Island. The natives believe that the spirit of those that have died on the Island and not been buried hover around looking for peace. A relevant belief as detainees disappear or meet an unknown fate all around the area.

The trauma counselor practices a form of sand therapy where she places a sandbox in front of her patients then gives them the opportunity to create whatever they want in the space. Some just run their hands though the sand remarking on how it feels or sounds. Others place some of the army of Poh-Lin's figures and structures into the sand to represent scenarios and settings. While they work in the sand Poh-Lin asks them about their journey coming to the Island and what their experience has been like since they have arrived.

Countering the desperate state of the Asylum seekers is the red crab migration that takes place as events unfold. The crabs are moving from the jungle to the sea supported by the authorities and every soul on the Island going to extreme measures to protect the creatures. Government employees build bridges with logs so they can transverse water areas and roads.  Road Closed signs are strictly followed. All residents have rakes at the ready to sweep the animals gently out of the way as they maneuver around them to get from point A to B. Director Gabrielle Brady who expanded her 2017 short film The Island to create this mixture of documentary and scripted dialogue includes these scenes for a reason. They show that the locals treat these creatures far better than the human beings locked behind rolls of barbed wire in the detention centre.

The most harrowing story is a voice over of a protest from the past, It starts off peaceful but the guards throw the participants into isolation tied up without beds or blankets. One of them manages to get a hold of a needle and thread then proceeds to sow his mouth shut. Followed by a second person then a fourth, eventually up to 20. Another riveting account comes from a young man that is in the detention centre with his mother.  They are looking for singles to take elsewhere when his name is called. He thinks its a mistake but he is soon separated from his mom as he is 18. They get to visit, but those begin to spread out until his mom stops running to meet him when he arrives due to a sickness that she has picked up in detention.

Island of Hungry Ghosts is a different take on the current refugee crisis. It's not about escaping the home country or the journey to the new land. It doesn't touch on adapting to the culture. Instead, the focus is on those that find themselves in limbo. At a detention centre for an indefinite amount of time. A day turns into a week, a year then potentially 10 years. The common thread amongst all of the detainees that come to meet with Poh-Lin is suffering. They suffer themselves, try to be strong for their relatives and friends but see them being taken away to unknown fates day after day. They have no control over the situation except to know that things will only get worst. Some get so desperate that they choose to affect the one thing that they can which is when their own life will end. The toll on Poh-Lin is substantial as the people that she is there to help are in a worse state every time she sees them. Missed appointment pile up, the whereabouts of her patients not disclosed by detention ops she inevitably comes to realize that she is not in a situation where she can have any chance of a positive impact.

**** Out of 4.

Island of Hungary Ghosts | Gabrielle Brady | U.K. / Germany/ Australia | 2018 98 Minutes.