Film Review: Go Back Where You Came From

When we view the award-winning documentary Cronulla Riots, we are questioned about the values and ethics of being Australian. Everyone either young or old, male or female, Middle-Eastern or White, living on Australian soil are questioned about the embodiment of Australian values. Therefore, the documentary successfully achieved its purpose on questioning the viewers of being Australian. This can be best

“All right! Don’t say hopeless. I can say hopeless but you can’t. If you say hopeless then it really will be hopeless.” As Bibi, Jamal and the other refugees on the boat scooped water out of the sinking boat they never gave up. They were separated from their parents, fleeing from their home in Afghanistan but Bibi was resilient . These young children on a asylum seeker boat left their homes and friends with great hope for a better life in Australia. Life can be hard, it’s one of the hardest journeys we have. Journeys shape and change us into the people we are today and who we will become. The events we experience teach us about who we are and what we believe in. They change our views and opinions of whats wrong and whats right. Journeys can

Go Back To Where You Came From is an Australian documentary/reality show in which participants are given the opportunity to experience what the life of refugee and asylum seeker can be like, albeit edited and packaged for an audience. During the course of the three hour long series, the six individuals not only have the chance to get under the skin of a refugee in terms of achieving a greater degree of insight into what being a refugee really means, but also to get on the viewing audiences nerves in perhaps all or any of the of the first three senses described above. Moreover the refugees participating in the series may ‘get under the skin’ of the programme participants and the

In the documentary, Salam neighbor, Zach Ingrasci and Chris Temple show the struggles of the refugee life style along the Syrian border. Providing an intimate look at the world's largest wave of forced migration since WWll, they travel to a camp in Jordan called Zátari which has about 80,000 refugees. They plan on living like any refugee would with a tent, provided by the camps people and three different bags of food. There are about 40 camps and 30-39 of them are funded by the U.S. These camps hold children like Raouf who have been traumatized by bombings and are afraid to even attend school which should be one of the safest places. Back in Syria Raufs school had been bombed and the possibility of this event's recurrence frightens him, preventing him from attending school at the camp.

There are many different views about refugees in Australian society, where illegal boat people and over flowing detention centres are a controversial problem today. Go Back To Where You Came From is a documentary directed by Ivan O’Mahoney about a social experiment that challenges the dominant views of six Australians about refugees and asylum seekers. These six Australians are taken on a 25 day journey where they are placed into the troubled “worlds” of refugees. For a few of the Australians it is their first time overseas but, for all of them it is the most challenging and confronting experience of their lives. This essay will discuss

There is one side that believes that we as a country should let in the Asylum Seekers or Boat People, as they are sometimes known as. And those who think that letting in the Asylum seekers in are bad. This issue is raised yet again in the documentary and is prominent throughout the entirety of the show. Even the participants are divided; Glenny Ray’s quote “I think that we have the capacity to take perhaps more refugees. ”(Go

On the refugee council website, there are many truly stories by migrants and refugees about their experience of contact with Australian culture. They need to be classified and made the subject of academic research. Nevertheless, the area of interest to the present research project because of their testimony to the input of migrants’ culture into Australian

Discovery is a paradoxical process which allows individuals to explore concealed and indefinite ideas, enabling a broader understanding of their world and its surroundings. This dichotomous process often occurs at the intersection of exploration and introspection, catalysing a social awakening that enlightens and positions individuals to consider new conceptions. The Logie Award-winning television show “Go Back to Where You Came From” directed by Ivan O’Mahony documents an intimidating refugee journey that was undertaken by six uniquely-characterised individuals representing the myriad perspectives of Australians, consequently challenging the antipathy and intolerance that has become the major characteristic of the wider refugee debate. Resonating with the historical Moreover, Shaun Tan’s post-colonialist picture book “The Rabbits” explores the devastating and demoralizing consequences of the discovery, depicting the obliteration of spiritual, emotional and cultural bonds underpinned by the hegemony imposed by British imperialism.

The film begins with loud voices of a foreign language, images of a crowded refugee camp in Hong Kong, and a caged young girl. A man struggles to articulate his age in English. A woman rejects his application. The camera lingers on his disappointment. The voice of the documentary begins its commentary on the number of displaced people in the world and asks “What does it take to come to Canada?” The voice is not critical but puts the question and the information to the viewer for their own criticisms to be drawn.

The author’s first argument highlight’s his contention with its message of the values immigrants bring to Australia regardless of their education. Karapanagiotidis utilises emotive language very heavily when relaying the ‘sacrifices’ and ‘grief’ his grandma and parents endured when immigrating and settling in Australia to evoke a sense of sympathy for them specifically from the audience. The use of a personal story is used almost as evidence to support his contention, and the audience takes it as so. To then evoke respect for his relatives, Karapanagiotidis talks of how his parents were viewed as ‘uneducated’, yet insists they had ‘resilience, love of community, principles, sacrifice, entrepreneurship, selflessness and courage’, which the

O’Mahoney’s “Go Back” reveals how a new environment presents challenges that allow individuals to discover new insights about themselves and their world. Raye and Raquel initially share a parochial perspective, because of the geographical isolation of Australia, which is challenged when they learn of the scarcity of resources at refugee camps and this that allows them to understand the desperation of refugees and realise their own limited knowledge in regard to the refugee crisis. The show’s opening montage presents Raquel as a xenophobic and self proclaimed racist, “I just don’t like Africans.” However, she begins to realise the naivety of her previous misconceptions about Africans during the group’s visit to Masoudi family in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. Her change in perspective towards African refugees, from an unadulterated antipathy towards all Africans, is established in a myriad of mid shots showing her close proximity and willingness to embrace the Masoudi. Similarly, the introduction footage of Raye reveals her lack of compassion and empathy towards refugees through

This example, although only one of many, shows what the struggles of war can do to a person. Whether it be through the loss of family or home, refugees run the risk of losing themselves in the thick fog of confusion and struggles as they deal with war and fleeing their homes. However, war is not the only factor that can cause refugees to lose themselves. Even once they find home, they struggle to find themselves in the overwhelming tide of a new culture and people. “Both refugee and immigrant children may encounter society’s discrimination and racism, and both have to

I learned that nutrition is the process of providing or obtaining the food necessary for good health and growth. I also learned that sugar can cause many different types of health problems. The information I learned helped me to build a healthy menu for young children.

Refugees! Refugees! Refugees! This the only word we are hearing nowadays. The word ‘refugee’ echoes in society and particularly in the media nowadays, yet, many are ignorant of what it truly means. Whenever we hear the word ‘refugee’, our knee-jerk reaction is that we think of immigrants. A refugee, according to the Geneva Convention, is someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion1. People have fled their home country from the fear of unjustified persecution, but we do not call them innocent people; rather our deluded society deride

The extent to which discovery is embraced relies on the willingness of individuals to be ideologically receptive to their experiences. The influence of discovery may not be determined by the level of planning involved, but one’s willingness widen their perspective of the world, accepting places and people foreign to them. Whilst the mise-en-scene of the beach in the opening interviews establish Adam’s “sheltered” and “apprehensive” response to the refugee issue, his commitment and continual engagement on the ‘Go Back’ journey accentuates the transformation he experiences. Through the perceptive arrangement of indirect interviewing, close-up and mid-shots, Adam’s “reality check” at Villawood Detention Centre proved both intellectually and emotionally transformative, symbolically summated in O’Mahoney’s concluding image of this participant’s reflection with his passport, tenderly appreciating the safety of his home. The director purposefully juxtaposes the limited impact of Raquel’s discovery due to her detachment. The salient focus on her despondent facial and body expressions at the Chin school contrasts Gleny and Raye’s reflection on their empowering teaching experience, hence highlighting the vitality of personal interaction in facilitating intensely meaningful discovery. Sally Morgan similarly contrasts individual receptiveness