Ru celebrates the healing nature of the kindness of strangers

Something many people in Western society know very little of is the experience of living as a refugee. Fleeing a terrifying situation, spending months upon months in transit. It’s an incredibly scary and restless situation with little joy to be found. For refugees, they do it all in the hope of a better life. But what constitutes a better life?

Chloé Djandji in Ru, courtesy of Drowster et Immina Films.

Ru is a film that seeks to examine not the process of fleeing a war-torn country, but arriving in a safer haven and adjusting to a new life. Based on the novel of the same name by Kim Thúy, this Quebecois film is about a Vietnamese family settling in the town of Granby. Tinh (played by newcomer Chloé Djandji) arrives in this town with her two younger brothers and parents, and with the help of a local family begins the slow healing process.

The film is directed by Charles-Olivier Michaud (who previously made Anna), who fills this film’s images with moments of simplistic beauty. We’re seeing these all through the perspective of the young main character, who is experiencing many of these things for the first time. From seeing a first snowfall and connecting with a new friend since leaving her home country, the film excels the most in the juxtaposition of these moments with the refugee story.

There are frequent flashbacks to the family’s journey, but at no point does the film feel like it’s trauma dumping. The moments the audience sees of the violence in Vietnam and the arduous journey to Canada never feel excessive, but instead, as if they are a proper context. They highlight the struggles they’ve gone through, and the terrifying things they’ve seen. But most importantly, they are not predominant. They are a shading. Special focus is given to memories involving the main character’s cousin, the person she was closest to, and why she finds it especially hard to connect with other kids.

But the film rarely spends its time dwelling in the past, instead always looking forward. Both parents (played by Chantal Thuy from Black Lightning and Jean Bui) continually push their children to speak French, and not Vietnamese, as a means of moving forward and building a new life. It’s in connection with the community around them that the family finds their willingness to move forward. Thuy as the mother of the family gives the film’s strongest performance frequently highlighting this desire to move forward. The performance is expressive, with a lot resting on her shoulders and eyebrows showing the weight she struggles to carry and her attempts to shed it.

Alongside a beautifully minimalist score by Michel Corriveau that highlights the emotion underneath the surface, this film is simultaneously a painful and hopeful watch. It’s an incredibly beautiful film about resilience and survival and a truly uplifting watch. Especially as many people try to flee Gaza now in the hope of a better life that doesn’t involve constant violence, it’s important to watch films like these and remember to walk a mile in another person’s shoes. I give this film a 4/5, you can watch it in cinemas now.