The Vernon Film Society is pleased to announce that the last film of the 2012 fall season is Inescapable.
Three years ago, director Ruba Nadda won over cinema-goers around the world with the touching romance Cairo Time, a Film Circuit People’s Choice Award winner in 2009. This year, she reteams with her Cairo Time star Alexander Siddig for the highly anticipated political thriller Inescapable, which premiered as a gala presentation at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.
Successful Syrian-Canadian Adib (Siddig: Miral, Syriana) lives a comfortable life in Toronto with his loving wife and two college-aged daughters. On a typical afternoon at work, he receives a devastating piece of news. While vacationing in Greece, his eldest daughter secretly took a detour to Damascus – and vanished. Frantic, Adib immediately makes plans to return to Syria after more than 30 years.
As Adib places a series of covert phone calls and makes secret rendezvous with former contacts, it gradually becomes clear that he was once a major player in the Syrian resistance movement. Aided by the ex-fiancée he left behind (Marissa Tomei: The Ides of March, The Wrestler) and a dubious Canadian embassy official (Joshua Jackson: TV’s Fringe, One Week), Adib wades through vague clues, government subterfuge, and a web of conspiracies that stand between him and his daughter. When the regime discovers his former identity and accuses his daughter of being a spy, Adib must once again take up arms and fight for what he holds most dear.
Nadda spent four years as a teenager living in Damascus, which surely informs her convincing evocation of the climate of paranoia that is cultivated by totalitarian regimes. Along with its chillingly authentic atmosphere, Inescapable poses a series of vital, ethically charged questions. What happens if the past won’t stay in the past? What desperate lengths could someone go to if their former life threatens the new life they’ve spent decades painstakingly building? Expertly building the tension to a fever pitch, Nadda withholds her answers until the final, nail-biting minutes.
Inescapable shows at the normal regular times of 5:15 and 7:45 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 10 at the Vernon Towne Cinema on 30th Avenue. Tickets are available at the door and one week ahead at the theatre and the Bean Scene for $7.
