The Lawyer

A Gay/Queer film from Lithuania - a place I never imagined it could come from and it is superb. The two main actors who play the Lithuanian corporate lawyer and the Syrian refugee are both excellent, and their mutual knowledge of English (most of the film is in English) posed no problems for me. In fact, as a long part of the film is set in Belgrade, a sort of no-man's land for them, it seemed to me totally normal that sometimes they stumbled with a word or two. But now a brief and no spoilers account of the story. The lawyer seems a sort of snobbish, sexually arrogant gay man, leading his life almost uniquely among his gay friends. On a website he meets a Syrian man in Serbia. Leaving his comfortable and sometimes callous life, he goes to Belgrade in search of the man he met online. There in a St. Paul of Damascus way he 'finds' his human goodness and does everything in his power, despite obstacle after obstacle, to get the refugee to more understanding country. Eventually he does it his way, and the ending, improbable to some, was heartbreakingly beautiful. As a film it is finely made and each detail counts. If there were superfluous scenes I did not see them, and above all it is an eye opener in that it tackles a controversial subject bravely and I just hope it heralds more films from our Eastern European neighbours. A solid 10 for a very fine film.