by Anis Pervez
Nuruzzaman Khan from Bangladesh and Boan Wang from Taiwan made history, as “The Border Within” is the first collaboration between the two countries. The film, in 28 minutes, shows a Bangladeshi doctor's gut-felt endeavor to help Osman, a Rohingya refugee teenage boy living in a refugee camp, actualize his dream of getting an education.
Starting with a mid-shot of a diarrhea ward in a hospital, ceiling fans in motion, saline bags hanging, and the sound of sick babies overrides other sounds in the ward, “The Border Within” presents, Tawhid, the doctor attending patients. In a long shot, the city appears; in the foreground, the doctor is telephoning his wife living in a distant town and waiting for him. She is pregnant, and it is an obvious expectation that her husband, the doctor, should be with her most of the time, let alone on weekends. The doctor informs her that he is going to Cox's Bazar Rohingya refugee camp to meet Osman, whom he finances regularly with the little that he can, but has not seen for over a year.
The doctor wrestles deep inside, thinking how far he can go helping Osman—a strong-willed teen despite being swallowed in the deepest vulnerability—who wants to be a doctor. Stranded Osman's dream is larger than the doctor's limitations. The doctor monologues, as he nears Cox's Bazar, “Maybe I have gone beyond my limits. Am I giving him false hope? Will I find an answer for both of us?” The doctor does not give up, as Osman's spirit reminds him of his childhood. Yet on another level, the doctor's past haunts him; the memory of his first surgery where the patient died saddens him, and at the same time, fills him with a positive vigor to transcend the borders of constraints, by serving humanity with the little that he can. No wonder the doctor reaches the refugee camp and meets Osman and his family, and even arranges a job for Osman.
“The Border Within” portrays the human power to jump over the structural puddles created by nation-states' increasingly engaged in anti-people activities. The Myanmar government has violently expelled the Rohingyas from their home. It is one of the largest exoduses of our age, as more than a million Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh and are now living in refugee camps. Of course, such a huge population needs global support to solve the problem politically. Yet, we, the individuals, have to discharge our duty, as our being with them can make a boy like Osman feel confident to actualize his dream and show his potential.
The film is weaved by a series of mid-shots and close-ups appropriating the inner world of Tawhid. In a brilliant long shot – the doctor on a beach, with waves crashing mightily – he tells his wife on the phone, “Maybe I cannot be the answer to all his problems, but at least I can try to help him realize his dream.”
As we come to share human suffering and expand our hands, people, even the innocent kids, inquisitively observe and experience us. At least three times, when we are inside Osman's home, we glimpse a little girl, halfway appearing, peeping at the humans cultivating good deeds – one extends a hand to another in need.. Such observation may instill a sense of humanity in the heart of one who is yet to grow up; who knows?
