Moving to Mars: A Million Miles from Burma

Since the military coup of 1962, the Karen people of Burma have been a persecuted minority. Around 150,000 of them now live in refugee camps over the border in Thailand, which means that their journey is far from over. In , Mat Whitecross, who directed together with Michael Winterbottom, follows two Karen families who are moving to Sheffield, England. Thaw Htoo studied to be an engineer and married his piano teacher, but he cannot show us his diplomas -- together with his house, they went up in flames. Jo-Kae, a simple farmer, helped people escape from the junta, and his wife teaches kindergarten in the camp. In , politics are always in the background. Whitecross first gets us familiar with village life in the camp -- "a human community," as one person puts it. After the tears of saying goodbye, we can truly feel the culture shock. The adults are nervous, hopeful, and uncertain, while the children eagerly take everything in with their curious eyes. The story really begins in the row house in Sheffield, which at first seems like a paradise. There is cheerfulness and boredom, friendships flag, a teenage son finds his own way, and the farmer who speaks no English seems to find his niche faster than the uprooted engineer.