Behind The Mountains (2024 Melbourne International Film Festival) ★★★

THE Atlas Mountains of Tunisia in northern Africa are the setting for the engaging and touching drama Behind the Mountains.

Tunisian writer/director Mohamed Ben Attia weaves a supernatural element into his story of a man struggling to deal with the modern world and his place in society.

We meet Rafik as he starts to destroy computers at his workplace and then throws himself out of the window.

With a history of mental illness and destructive episodes, Rafik is sent to jail for four years.

Upon his release, the father and husband finds himself estranged from his wife and pressured by his parents to conform.

He flips out once again, abducting his young son Yassine and fleeing the city for the nearby mountains where he dreams of starting afresh.

They are eventually joined on the run by a local sheep herder after Rafik displays an unusual talent that I won’t reveal.

Suffice to say it serves as a metaphor for Rafik’s wish for freedom and to make his son proud of him.

Despite this supernatural element, the relationship depicted between father and son always seems realistic and grounded, developing strong audience sympathy.

It’s a nice, touching and uplifting film.

Watched at the cinema.