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Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures

Marco Martins
Filmfestival
Mon 24 Apr 23 - Fri 28 Apr 23

‘Great Yarmouth’ offers a compelling and poignant look into migrant life in modern day Great Britain. The photography in this film is artistic and the performances are splendid.

Great Yarmouth is a decayed seaside town at the English East Coast. Hundreds of Portuguese migrants try to find a job in the local turkey factories. Tânia is married to the rude Richard, an English hotel owner. She offers shelter to Portuguese workers in her husband’s grubby hotel rooms. Tânia dreams of becoming a British citizen and leaving this dirty business for good.

 

A lot of films have been made on migration and the violation of workers’ rights, but ‘Great Yarmouth’ is unique because the director focuses on the exploiter. Main actress Tânia is friendly up to a certain point, but in essence she is still a woman extorting money from migrants with her husband. The film is a fierce denunciation of capitalism and its inhuman consequences.

direction
Marco Martins
cast
Nuno Lopes, Kris Hitchen, Beatriz Batarda
duration
113 min
year
2022
country
Portugal
language
Portugese, English
Subtitles
English, Dutch

Brexit Britain offers only hellish horrors to exploited migrant workers in this bleakly compelling social-realist thriller.

Stephen Dalton, The Film Verdict