It seems everywhere you turn right now, either at home or abroad, there are some truly tragic and heartbreaking things happening, and this past week has been particularly trying. And even as anger swells and tears flow, understanding will be a crucial step toward healing and real change. And sometimes we can’t fathom how anyone could take on views that lead to horrific acts of violence, but in the upcoming “Road To Istanbul,” one mother gives it a shot.
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Directed by Rachid Bouchareb, who has earned praise for “Days Of Glory” and “London River,” and starring Astrid Whettnall, Pauline Burlet, Patricia Ide, and Abel Jafri, the story centers around a mother who journeys into Syria to find her daughter who has inexplicably joined ISIS. Here’s the official synopsis:
Elisabeth lives with her twenty-year-old daughter Elodie in an idyllic house in the Belgian countryside. She is not unduly concerned when Elodie does not come home one night, assuming at first that she is staying over with a female friend. When the police inform her that her daughter has left the country to join the ranks of Islamic State in Syria, she is flabbergasted. Incredulous, she begins to investigate. A video message reveals that Elodie has been leading a double life about which her mother had no suspicion. Elisabeth cannot comprehend what on earth has possessed her daughter to go and join a war in a far-off country that, as far as she can see, has nothing to do with Elodie’s life. Since no official help is forthcoming, she sets off to make her own way across the Turkish border into Syria to bring Elodie home.
The film debuted on television in major European territories this past spring, but there’s no domestic distributor or date yet. [Cine Maldito]
