The Other Side of Hope

In Helsinki, a young Syrian refugee named Khaled arrives as a stowaway and seeks asylum. When his application is rejected, he chooses to stay in Finland illegally rather than return to his war-torn homeland, while searching for his sister, who also fled Syria. Separately, a travelling salesman in his fifties leaves his wife and his job to buy a run-down restaurant. One evening he finds Khaled in the courtyard of the establishment and offers him shelter, food and work as a cleaner and dishwashing. Khaled is taken in by the restaurateur and his eccentric staff, whose efforts to revive the struggling eatery run alongside the search for his sister.

Aki Kaurismäki wrote, produced and directed the film, which followed Dirty Hands (2015) in his filmography and came before Fallen Leaves (2023). Sherwan Haji plays Khaled opposite Sakari Kuosmanen as Wikström, with Kaija Pakarinen as Wikström's wife, Niroz Haji as Miriam, Janne Hyytiäinen and Ilkka Koivula among a credited cast of 81. The Finnish-German production, made by Bufo, Sputnik and ZDF, runs 101 minutes and was released in February 2017, taking about 2 million US dollars worldwide. On TMDB it holds a rating of 6.9 out of 10 from 368 votes.