Distant Lights

Political and economic boundaries cast a long shadow over a number of European films in 2003. This ambitious, engrossing multi-strand drama flits back and forth across the German-Polish border, finding desperate Eastern European refugees on one side, economic recession on the other, cynicism and corruption in between. Schmid's moving film asks what responsibilities we have to our impoverished neighbours, but more than that, posits 21st century capitalism as morally and socially bankrupt. Three Colours White star Zbigniew Zamachowski makes a strong impression among the ensemble.