The Other Half

Directed/Writer:  Rolando Colla

Review By Rowan Harrison

Now, I think half the fun of attending these film fests, is you never know what you’re going to watch, especially if you go into a film blind.  Like, Forest Gump said “life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get.”  To pass the time away before the 8 o’clock feature at the Edwards; I slipped into a dark blue gray piece from Belgium and Switzerland, entitled The Other Half.

Hamid a quite, discreet and troubled figure boards a train with an attaché case in hand destined to Brussels from Switzerland.  “What kind of sales representative are you, I sell hair products” given the clearance to continue his clandestine operation, Hamid enters the city of Brussels.

 Someone once told me that you can pretty much tell what a film is about in the first 10 minutes.  In this case The Other Half opens with the classic look and feel of European cinema, a shady character, wonders in an out of train stations, meets with conspicuous  middle eastern men, and is interrogated by every law enforcement officer he comes across.  What appears to be a foreboding political thriller involving an underground Middle Eastern terrorist organization is just the other half of this story.

Hamid, who we know little about like his girlfriend, “I don’t know anything about you” is constantly looking over his shoulder and carries a countenance of suspicion.  What we do know about Hamid, is he is a courier for an Islamic militant group, and is confidently sure that he is being followed by the police.  His suspicions are confirmed when he receives a phone call from his brother Louise, whom he is estranged from. 

Yet when he received a message again from his brother, this time regarding the critical condition of his mother, with whom he hasn’t seen in over 30 years, he reluctantly responds.  On their way to a hospital in Switzerland, Louise tells Hamid that his mother didn’t pull through.  Immediately thinking he’s been set up by his brother, he demands to be taken back to Brussels, however they are pulled over by the cops.

Louise pays for Hamids bail, along with Louise’s girlfriend Isabella, adequately played by Nade Dieu, they retreat back to their parents’ home in the countryside.  Now enters the heart of the film, as they dig deep into their families tragic and emotional past, in an attempt to mend a present tumultuous brotherly relationship, as Louise desperately wants to know what his father was like.

The Other Half, is an intriguing dramatic foreign film that wrestles with a family’s broken history manifested in the chosen lifestyles of two separated brothers. The film is in many ways gloomy yet approaches its relationships with a certain emotional depth, honesty and vigor.  With a subdued beginning thanks to the musical scores ominous opening piece, The Other Half allows its viewers to comfortably settle along with two brothers reckless abandonment and their struggle to break psychological barriers.