Fenar Ahmad’s “The Dark Zone” (Denmark 2017), if there is anything else worth saying, is of course a side-by-side look at the life of the Middle Eastern “migrant generation” in Europe. Although the film is a commercial thriller, it deals with criminal underworld and presents a certain reality of these immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa. It is reminiscent of Luc Besson’s “Underground” (1985) or Matthew Kasowitz’s “Young Angry Men” (1995), but “Dark Places” clearly has its own unique flavor. In “Dark Places,” the outsiders who moved to Denmark as refugees have, after decades of integration, become part of local life, while others are outside the realm of reality, unwilling to work or be a new “European. The price of this inability to integrate is that they wander the streets with their own clansmen, thinking all day long and then spending their days robbing homes. These gangs, large and small, have become a cancer on the European reality, and some of these young people have even been motivated by extremist groups to create various forms of terrorist attacks. This is a cold side of the “second generation”.
Of course, as in the film, the surgeon Zaire (Darza Lim) such as a successful, dedicated work, and married a local girl Steen, the perfect integration, but the proportion will not be a lot, more is a job, the routine of life. The weaknesses of human nature are only exploited by the bad guys when they are completely exposed to others. As in the film, these street gangsters, they have no pursuit, not to work, the marginalized can only be the result of the road to lawlessness.
The static reality of the Zaire family in the film is a reference. Their parents remain at home, dressed as they are in Iraq. As Zaire accuses his father, “You think this is Iraq, you’ve been here for thirty years and all you think about is the same as in Iraq, you never think about going out and getting a job. This is a testament to the reality of their lives.
The film focuses on the death of Zaire’s younger brother, Yassin, whose reality is the epitome of the “second generation”. Yashin, like Zaire, grew up with a passion for boxing, but grew up to become a street gangster, and after robbing a bank, was killed by a criminal organization, becoming a scapegoat for the mob. And this happened, as a doctor Zaire regardless of the pregnant wife about to give birth, in the case of the police did nothing, he was determined to come forward.
The reason for Zaire’s desperation is that he wants to avenge his brother’s death, on the other hand, he wants to eliminate these criminal organizations, which seems to prove to the Europeans that as a “second generation”, we also have the same responsibility and commitment, and will also uphold justice, to do justice. These criminal organizations from the Middle East and North Africa, such as the film Blanco, Simon, these villains, they run the underground black boxing casinos, not only control these minions, but also control the illegal economic sources, so that the people under them can only honestly work for them.
Zaire as a camouflage “face” hero, night and day, single-handedly and these desperadoes duel, can be described as a realistic version of the mythical “Zorro”, or “First Blood” in the “Rambo “. Ultimately, this is still a commercial film, the inevitable pursuit of exciting and dazzling scenes, but the European film has its own differences with Hollywood, in addition to the pace of tension and relaxation, is the inner struggle of Zaire portrayed, more than Hollywood fine.
The title of the film “The Darkness” itself is clearly defined, corresponding to the current reality of the European Union, which is not discriminatory, it is just a reflection of the multi-angled reality of immigrants, at least, this for understanding the Middle East and North Africa immigrants living there, undoubtedly become a view, although this is the side of the surface, but the cruelty and bitterness of which will still provoke people to think. The inability to integrate and share values has become a knot that can never be untied.
Of course, this involves the “new immigrants” beliefs, customs, culture, work and life, which is a hard indicator, which one fell off the chain, will cause a psychological gap, in this, the old Europe is facing new problems, will be endless, and some are insurmountable problems, or this is the reality of the problem faced by all mankind. We just hope to have a smooth transition in Europe, to restore the traditional European tranquility and peace, which is also conducive to the tranquility and stability of the whole world.
