A scene where Omar is asked to help find some escaped animals is surreal at first, but it quickly turns serious when he makes an unpleasant discovery. Sharrock maintains an offbeat, low-key tone through most of the film, but that is precisely when "Limbo" sneaks up on viewers. (An early scene has a bunch of local youths asking Omar if he is a terrorist, among other racist stereotypes). His interaction with the shopkeeper is both comic and awkward as they discuss xenophobia. Hoping to pick up some sumac to make a dish that reminds him of home, he finds the only condiments are ketchup, mustard, and soy sauce. Omar's trip to the supermarket is especially depressing. When the men wait for news of their status, or Omar lies on the floor of his room, or sits outside with Farhad, the despair is palpable. He is masterful with his minimalist compositions. "Limbo" shows a world that is vast and empty, gray-skied, and windy. The world outside of the house is equally drab. They spend time watching " Friends," which prompts a heated discussion between Abedi and Wasef about "taking a break" and "breaking up." The show's canned laughter provides an eerie soundtrack. They talk about their dreams - Wasef hopes to play football for Chelsea - and they wonder if they have deliberately been housed in the middle of nowhere to "break us." As one refugee observes, they are single men, who are low priority, and past their "sell by" dates.
They attend awkward classes on cultural awareness led by Helga (Sidse Babett Knudsen of " Borgen") and Boris (Kenneth Collard). However, most people believe they are brothers. The other two refugees are Abedi (Kwabena Ansah), a Ghanaian, and Wasef (Ola Orebiyi) a Nigerian. He sports a mustache like his hero, Freddie Mercury, and one day brings home a chicken he stole and names it Freddie 2. Farhad (Vikash Bhai), is Afghani, and has been waiting 32 months for a decision on his case. Omar lives with three other men in a shabby house that is mostly empty - as if no one wants to put down roots for fear of staying.
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His hand is in a cast as the film opens, and there are concerns expressed that the instrument does not sound like it used to (a reference that things will never be the same as they were), and that he may not remember how to play. It is symbolic, not only of his grandfather, his homeland/heritage, and his career, but it is his baggage - an albatross - and a signifier of what he cannot leave behind. Omar carries his oud with him everywhere. He uses the sole pay phone to call his parents who are eking out life in Istanbul they are worried about Omar as well as his brother, Nabil (Kais Nashif), who has remained in Syria to fight. The main protagonist is Omar (Amir El-Masry), a Syrian musician who cannot work while he is seeking asylum. The film slowly reveals itself as it depicts a handful of asylum seekers caught in between their past - and the unstable homelands they fled - and an uncertain future.
There are moments of deadpan comedy and whimsy woven throughout writer/director Ben Sharrock's outstanding drama, "Limbo," but mostly this story about refugees on a fictional Scottish island is heartbreaking.
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