The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

Tribeca Film Festival 2020

Stateless (Apátrida)

Tribeca Film Festival 2020: Stateless (Apátrida) | Review
27 April 2020
Guy Lambert
Avatar
Guy Lambert
27 April 2020

Movie and show review

Guy Lambert

Stateless (Apátrida)

★★★★★

An eye-opening look into a country whose current affairs rarely gain recognition on the global stage, director Michele Stephenson’s Stateless follows the work and campaigning of young and passionate Dominican attorney Rosa Iris, who battles for the rights of undocumented legal citizens while building her own political bid for Congress. Acts of racial hatred from the Dominican government in 1937 led to the denaturalisation in 2013 of thousands of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent, sparking an avalanche of social injustice and political disparity between the poorest and wealthiest in society. Fast forward to the present, and this is the battle that Rosa fights on others’ behalf.

Corruption is rife amongst government elites, and Iris’s story provides an exceptionally moving insight into the political and socioeconomic struggles faced in an area relatively unknown to the world. With the use of some fabulous cinematography, Stateless is a very high-quality and professional project, and although Stephenson tells the story in documentary format, it is presented as though it were a feature-length drama. Starring a real protagonist devastatingly passionate about what she believes, moved to despair by the unjust suffering of others, the film moves, making it impossible not to root for Rosa as she campaigns for what she believes to be right against a system that scrutinises so many.

Iris’s run for political office presents an alternative dynamic to the story. Rather than having people believe in her abilities like they do when she is at work, she must instead make her public trust that she has the power to bring change to their lives. Throughout the documentary, the dangers she faces are very real, with threats to her and her children becoming a daily occurrence as she challenges those deemed superior, undeniably becoming an even greater heroine in the process. This combination of wonderful storytelling from the director and a fierce, supportable protagonist make Stateless a remarkable watch from start to finish, displaying the brilliance of Iris’s work and teaching a history lesson as it goes.

At Tribeca this year, Stateless falls into the Viewpoint category, and as a whole, is certainly not to be missed this year. But it asks more of the viewer than to simply watch and enjoy. There is a burning realism woven into every shot of the 97-minute film and what needs to be taken away is that the very real struggle of thousands in Haiti continues, even as the end credits roll.

★★★★★

Guy Lambert

Stateless (Apátrida) does not have a UK release date yet.

Read more reviews from our Tribeca Film Festival 2020 coverage here.

Related Itemsreview

More in Film festivals

Top Gun: Maverick

★★★★★
Filippo L'Astorina, the Editor
Read More

Harka

★★★★★
Selina Sondermann
Read More

Rodeo

★★★★★
Umar Ali
Read More

Alma Viva

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

“No-one asked Gene Kelly, ‘Why do you dance?’”: A rendez-vous with Tom Cruise at Cannes

Selina Sondermann
Read More

When You Finish Saving the World

★★★★★
Selina Sondermann
Read More

“My aim is that the film is smart enough on the one hand to allow itself to be totally idiotic on the other”: Michel Hazanavicius on zombie movie Final Cut (Coupez!)

The editorial unit
Read More

Final Cut (Coupez!): “A love letter to filmmaking”

★★★★★
Selina Sondermann
Read More

Crimes of the Future: Three new clips from David Cronenberg’s dystopian body horror film

The editorial unit
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

Guy Lambert

Stateless (Apátrida)

★★★★★

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Albert Adrià reopens Enigma on 7 June as a “fun-dining” restaurant and cocktail bar
    Food & Drinks
  • Banter Jar at Lion & Unicorn Theatre: “An authentic and timely one-woman show”
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Crimes of the Future: Three new clips from David Cronenberg’s dystopian body horror film
    Cannes
  • The Road Dance
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Innocents
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Top Gun: Maverick
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Harka
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Rodeo
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Alma Viva
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • “When you’re presented with different dilemmas in life, you respond accordingly”: Debbie Kurup on The Cher Show
    Theatre
  • Top Gun: Maverick
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Rodeo
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Alma Viva
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • 2:22 A Ghost Story at Criterion Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • The House of Shades at Almeida Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Tribeca Film Festival 2020: Picture a Scientist | Review
Tribeca Film Festival 2020: P.S. Burn This Letter Please | Review