Generation Exile

The third of the films we will be screening at Wild Goose is Generation Exile, a documentary made by Rodrigo Dorfman, who lives very near to the festival site. It is the story of people, including Dorfman himself, who were forced to leave the land of their birth and ended up in North Carolina. All of them are still deeply affected by their exile and are drawn to a nearby Sufi community. There, they think they have found the paradise they have been seeking, but such is not the case.

Generation Exile is a well-made documentary and I’m very glad we will be screening it and that we’ll have a chance to talk with the director. Dorfman was born in Chile and I found his own story the most compelling.

As mentioned, Generation Exile begins with stories of exile and then goes somewhere very different. In doing so, it remains constantly fascinating, but the relationship between the two parts of the film (between exile and the Sufi community) is never clearly explained and the result is a conclusion that is not fully satisfying. Nevertheless, it is a film that speaks in some way to all of us in the rapidly-changing world of the 21st century. It is a time when many people are longing for the kind of community where they can truly feel at home. ***+. My mug is up.

The fourth film we are screening at Wild Goose is Insatiable Moon, made in New Zealand.