Pian hän tulee / Waiting for Hezhwan

Pian hän tulee / Waiting for Hezhwan. Hezha Sadek, the desperate father.

Tampere Film Festival (TFF) / National Competition 2
6.3. WED/KE 20:00 | PLEVNA 2
Language/kieli: Eng, Fin
D: Kati Juurus | Finland 2019 | Documentary | 69 min
    In Kurdish / English / Finnish. With subtitles in Finnish and English.

TFF: "The mother kidnaps the child from Finland to Iraq and prevents all communication between the father and son. Thus begins the father’s endless fight to bring the boy back to Finland using all means possible. How is the father able to bear the separation from his son as all attempts to get him back seem futile. What measures are the parents prepared to take as the divorce becomes a wretched game concerning the child’s whereabouts? And what, in the end, is the child’s best interest? Waiting for Hezhwan is a documentary film that feels like a thriller – up to a surprising end. It is also an intimate psychological study about one man’s family tragedy. Such tragedies become more common as globalisation makes marriages, relationships – and divorces – more international."

"Äiti kaappaa lapsen mukaansa Suomesta Irakiin ja estää lapsen isää ottamasta yhteyttä poikaansa. Alkaa isän loputon taistelu pojan saamiseksi takaisin Suomeen, ja siinä taistelussa kaikki keinot ovat sallittuja. Miten isä pärjää joutuessaan olemaan erossa lapsestaan, kun kaikki yritykset saada poika takaisin tuntuvat valuvan hukkaan? Miten pitkälle vanhemmat ovat valmiita menemään, kun avioero muuttuu peliksi, jonka panoksena on lapsen asuinpaikka? Ja mikä loppujen lopuksi on lapsen edun mukaista?" (TFF)

AA: A Kurdish family drama in Finland. Hezha Sadek tries to get back his son Hezhwan taken to Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan, Irak by Hezha's wife, Hezhwan's mother Juja.

Hezha takes all the steps. He tries to reach Hezhwan, Juja, and her father via Skype and the telephone. He makes a report to the police, and an Interpol order is given. He visits Abducted Children Finland. He talks with his mother and his sister. He talks with his friend. He visits Irak where he is put to jail for several days. He records YouTube videos for his son to watch. He even mounts a tent in front of the House of Parliament in Helsinki to make a demonstration.

At around 60 minutes in this movie of 69 minutes there is a turning-point. Hezha travels to Orlando for several weeks to visit Soul Quest Ayahuasca Church Of Mother Earth. He now sees everything differently. His love for his son was his only love, and for it he sacrificed everything. He confesses that he was not a loving husband. "We were not compatible". "My starting-point was my own ego". "My world view has completely changed". "We live in an age of spirituality. I love everybody".

Hezha cancels all his demands to the police and to his wife Juja.

The turning-point is a big surprise, but I have to confess that the obsessive-compulsive behaviour of Hezha raised questions all along. We never had a chance to learn Juja's point of view.