Exodus Our Journey to Europe

Episode
Exodus Our Journey to Europe - Ep3
Broadcast Info
2016 (59 mins)
Description
In 2015, we gave cameras to some of the million people who smuggled themselves into Europe, to record the places where no-one else can go. The result is a terrifying, intimate, epic portrait of the migration crisis.
EPISODE 3
Twelve months ago, the production team began giving cameraphones to people attempting to reach Europe, escaping war, poverty or persecution. They were prepared to film where regular film crews could not go: on the inflatable dinghies crossing from Turkey to Greece, in the back of lorries entering the Eurostar, or on open trucks driven by people smugglers across the Sahara.
21 year old Alaigie is preparing to leave Gambia to travel "the back way" 6000 kilometres to Italy to find work. Following his father’s death, Alaigie’s dreams of becoming an engineer were shattered and he needs to earn money to support his family. He takes us with him on the dangerous journey through Africa via a network of smugglers, at the mercy of thieves and violent border guards, across the Sahara in overloaded trucks to Tripoli. But instead of getting on a boat as he’d expected, Alaigie is kidnapped, and a ransom is demanded. His family in Gambia struggle to raise the money to pay.
Meanwhile, Syrian Kurd Ahmad’s attempt to be smuggled into Britain in the back of a lorry finally pays off, and he’s sent to Wakefield while his asylum claim is processed. He’s desperate to get Leave to Remain so that he can bring his wife and young daughters out of Syria. With their home town under attack from Daesh (so-called Islamic State) and the Assad regime, the clock is ticking for him to get them to safety.
And 27 year old Hassan, who survived the sinking of his dinghy in the Mediterranean, has reached Calais and the infamous Jungle. But every attempt to board a train or lorry is thwarted and his spirits fall as he sees his friends succeed in crossing the Channel. In desperation he tries to fly to the UK on a fake Czech passport, but the final few miles proves the hardest to travel.
Genre
Economics; Philosophy and Ethics; Social Science

How to cite this record

The Open University, "Exodus Our Journey to Europe". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/225956 (Accessed 10 Jan 2025)