Product Details

• Actors: Vincent Lindon, Firat Ayverdi, Audrey Dana
• Directors: Philippe Lioret
• Format: Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: English, French
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Film Movement
• DVD Release Date: August 10, 2010
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0031SU2Y2
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #74,727 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Welcome" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Welcome is a mesmerizing film that is haunting, uplifting and gut-wrenching. Lindon and Ayverdi give great performances and this is one of the rare films that you consider yourself lucky to have seen. A truly moving piece of cinema. --Caine Gardner, TheFilmYap.com

Product Description

Welcome is an emotionally affecting drama about intersecting lives, unlikely friendships and the hope of new beginnings. Bilal (Firat Ayverdi), a 17-year-old Kurdish refugee, has spent the last three months of his life traveling across Europe in an attempt to reunite with his girlfriend who recently emigrated to England. But his journey comes to an abrupt end when he is stopped on the French side of the Channel. Having decided to swim across, Bilal goes to the local swimming pool to train. It is here he meets Simon (Vincent Lindon), a middle-aged swimming instructor, who is privately reeling in turmoil as he dreads an imminent divorce from his wife (Audrey Dana). Despite their differences, the two men discover that they have much in common, and a strong bond emerges between them. Simon decides to take Bilal under his wing, realizing that he too must risk everything to reach the other side of happiness.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars seeing our world as others see it, November 20, 2010

By 

John Abbott (Oak Park, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Welcome (DVD)

A small film, "Welcome" provokes big questions in telling the story of Bilal, a seventeen-year-old Kurdish youth who, for all his exceptional drive, typifies the heartbreaking lot of Europe's illegal population. It's a movie of low-key but powerful gesture -- swimming instructor Simon's acts of decency earn him no accolades from those around him, only their incomprehension, even hostility. That's a face of heroism far removed from Hollywood cliche, and it's all the more persuasive and moving as a result. I don't wish to spoil for others the ending of this fine film by saying more, but certainly one walks away from "Welcome" overwhelmed by the tragic waste of human life and aspiration generated by Europe's inflexible immigration system. Of course much the same could be said about things here in the USA, but that's another story for another time.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Universality of Needs, April 26, 2011

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Welcome (DVD)

Philippe Lioret has written (with Emmanuel Courcol, Olivier Adam, and Serge Frydman) and directed this touching and compelling story of the trials of immigrants attempting to escape war-torn Iraq, reminding us of yet another aspect of the brutality of war. Titled WELCOME, it is anything but, as it demonstrates the averse feelings of the European countries to the plight of immigrants. This is a solid, well written and sculpted story that in the hands of a small cast of excellent actors reaches for the heart of the viewer and finds it.

Simon Calmat (Vincent Lindon) is a French swimming coach in the painful period of signing divorce papers from his wife Marion (Audrey Dana), a socially impassioned woman who serves at the food kitchen in Calais, France, providing nourishment and support for homeless immigrants. Simon discovers a young Kurdish illegal immigrant from Mosul, Iraq, Bilal Kayani (Firat Ayverdi), who has endured torture form the Turks who force him to wear a black sack over his head for an extended period of time until he escapes. In Calais he pays 500 Euros and joins with a group of fellow asylum seekers in an attempt to be smuggled by truck through the English Channel Tunnel, but his memory of the hood experience has made him terrified of wearing the plastic bag over his head required of the 'clandestines' when crossing the borders to avoid the CO2 detectors used by the guards. Bilal's dream is to cross into England where his girlfriend Mina (Derya Ayverdi, Firat's real life sister!) waits, attempting to avoid an arranged marriage her father demands. Largely due to Bilal's inability to keep the plastic bag over his head during the attempted escape, the immigrants are captured and returned to France. It is then that Simon sees him on the street and befriends him, not only accepting him as a swimming pupil (Balil's dream is to swim across the English Channel for Mina) but also sharing his home and food with him. Bilal is polite and grateful and a bond forms between the lonely Simon and Bilal. A nosey neighbor exposes Simon as an illegal alien protector and Bilal runs away to protect Simon's reputation. Knowing that Bilal is determined to swim the English Channel Simon helps as best he can, but the film ends in a surprise that affects everyone who has been involved with the act of humanity to an illegal immigrant.

Vincent Lindon is brilliant as the newly compassionate Simon, and Firat Ayverdi is a very fine new actor who should enjoy a successful future in films: he simply has it all - looks, screen presence, and acting ability. One aspect of the film that makes it so very powerful is the manner in which Loiret explores the souls of Bilal and his wary protector Simon: WELCOME unveils a world of overwhelming forces, both natural and social, that examine the waters of history, forces that may be resisted, but they will not be stopped. This is a film that should be considered imperative watching for every member of society. Grady Harp, April 11

4.0 out of 5 stars Welcome(?) to our world, young man, January 12, 2012

By 

Michael Harbour "mharbour" (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Welcome (DVD)

Wonderful little film about young love, and divorce, and immigration, and crushed hopes. The "mature" relationship playing in the background of the main story offers layers of perspective to consider when looking at the main story of the young immigrant.