"THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE is a bifurcating story about a young Syrian asylum seeker Khaled Ali (Sherwan Haji) and Waldemar Wikström (Kuosmanen), a middle-aged local career-changing restauranteur, both want to start their lives anew, but life is not fair, Wikström can scoop a sizable fortune overnight in a poker game whereas Ali's heart-rending plea has zero chance to pass the bureaucratic flintiness. But their paths eventually are crossed, comedic episodes alternate with dramatic occurrences (the restaurant's inutile attempt to wheel out Japanese cuisine is a total gas!), the big reunion of Ali and his sister Miriam (played by Sherwan's own sister Niroz) pays off grandly without falling into a drippy trap, Ali trusts Miriam's decision to apply for asylum seeker even though he knows from experience it is a tall order, and the ambivalent coda (with the racism and identitarian menace remains the bane for an immigrant) is marvelously touched up by a canine tenderness, which also crops up in FALLEN LEAVES."
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