Hold on to Her Review: A Documentary That Confronts Border Policy Through Tragedy
Robin Vanbiesen's powerful documentary Hold on to Her takes the horrific 2018 killing of two-year-old Mawda Shawri as its starting point to launch a searing investigation into the dehumanising machinery of European border policy. The film, which premieres on True Story from 6 February, uses this tragic incident to explore broader systemic issues surrounding migration control and state coercion.
The Tragic Case That Sparked the Investigation
The documentary centres on the death of Mawda Shawri, a German-born Iraqi Kurd child who was shot during a bungled border control raid on the van she was travelling in with her parents in Belgium. Vanbiesen reveals the disturbing details through documents and testimony presented to an audience of activists: the infant's body was dumped in a bin bag by presiding officers, her parents Phrast and Shamden were refused access, and police initially propagated false claims that Mawda had been thrown onto the highway by fellow passengers.
The justice system subsequently closed ranks, placing responsibility on the van driver for dangerous conduct that supposedly forced a police officer to fire the fatal shot. This case serves as the documentary's emotional core while simultaneously functioning as a gateway to examining wider institutional failures.
Beyond Individual Incidents: Examining Systemic Issues
While outrage at such egregious incidents is justified, the documentary makes a crucial point through its commentators: concentrating solely on extreme cases can inadvertently play into authorities' hands. These exceptional events are often used to justify draconian control measures while obscuring the broader machinery of repression and underlying power ideologies that enable such violence.
One particularly insightful commentator draws comparisons with the anthropology of hunting, examining the mythology that differentiates hunter from prey and sanctions bloodshed. The film argues that dismantling systemic violence requires dismantling language itself, with participants noting how replacing labels like "migrant" or "refugee" invariably humanises the people concerned.
Visual Language and Narrative Approach
Where the documentary proves somewhat less successful is in developing its own visual lexicon for this revolutionary perspective. Vanbiesen employs distorted sequences of Belgian highways that recall the Stargate sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey, attempting to convey interstitial alienation and liminal spaces. While initially effective, the numerous inserts of fluttering roadside vegetation and lamp-posts eventually become repetitive and lose their impact.
The film's lyrical dwelling in this borderland no man's land, combined with its anonymous conveyance of insights through staged readings, creates an ironic sense of deracination and dispersion. Some viewers might find that fully attributed testimony and a more rigorous conclusion to Mawda's story would have provided stronger closure than the healing session of throat-singing that concludes the documentary.
A Radical Intent with Scattered Execution
Hold on to Her demonstrates clear radical intent in its mission to expose the hidden infrastructure supporting European migration policy, even critiquing the reductive language commonly employed in immigration discourse. The film successfully highlights how state systems can dehumanise individuals and communities through both action and terminology.
However, the documentary's anger feels somewhat scattered by the wayside, with its visual approach not always matching the potency of its intellectual arguments. Despite this, Vanbiesen's work remains an important contribution to discussions about border policy, state violence, and the human cost of immigration enforcement systems.
The documentary serves as both a memorial to a tragic loss and a call to examine the structures that made such a death possible, challenging viewers to reconsider their understanding of migration, border control, and the language we use to discuss these complex issues.
