Leaving to Remain
As three Roma from Central Europe choose to live in the UK, Brexit and then Covid complicate matters.
This deeply sympathetic documentary is the work of Mira Erdevički who has made a number of films about Romany people. Her latest work, Leaving to Remain, follows that pattern being a detailed look at the situation of three individuals, two from what is now the Czech Republic and one from Slovakia, who have settled in Britain and built up their lives here becoming valuable citizens in the process. Indeed, one of them, Denisa Gannon, who arrived here as a single mother with a four-year-old son, would become the first Roma to qualify as a lawyer in the UK and now specialises as an immigration solicitor having married and made her home here.
We first meet Denisa in Peterborough which is also where we encounter Petr Torák. Having suffered a skinhead attack in his own country in 1999, he came to Britain at the age of eighteen and had a very successful career in the police force dealing with such matters as human trafficking. More recently he has played a major role in Compas, a charity working with marginalised and migrant communities and its work features strongly in this film. His contribution in these fields was so strong that he earned an MBE. The third Roma to be featured is Ondrej Oláh from Slovakia who established links with Babington Academy in Leicester, a secondary school that is part of the Learning without Limits Academy Trust. Later developments involved successful work in food management and transportation while he would also develop his interest in psychology and obtain a degree.
By making us aware of the lives of these three people, Erdevički’s film is taking a stand against anyone whose prejudices would lead them to group all Roma together in a dismissive way. We get to know something of these individuals and of their families and, while we mainly see them in the UK, visits back to their homeland are also included. Nevertheless, making Britain the prime location does have a special importance because the film’s narrative is largely chronological and that results in the second half of Leaving to Remain emphasising the impact in this context of our leaving the European Union. As a lawyer Denisa is directly concerned with processing applications on behalf of clients claiming to have the status to remain but embroiled in appalling bureaucracy. All of this is in marked contrast to what Britain had promised - what it stood for indeed - when our three Roma had arrived here.
With the impact of both Brexit and Covid affecting all three narratives, it may have seemed entirely apt to present them intertwined. However, in practice the frequent switches between each of the three stories as they unfold can be distracting and abrupt. The people themselves are so engaging that Leaving to Remain is undoubtedly effective but, even so, one feels that the extra clarity that would have resulted from telling each tale in turn would have added to the depth of our involvement. We are certainly drawn in but the impact could have been more potent still had we been allowed to follow each narrative individually and step-by-step. Nevertheless, this is a caring work which makes us engage with the people and with their situation.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring Petr Torák, Denisa Gannon, Ondrej Oláh, their families and communities
Dir Mira Erdevički, Pro Lucie Wenigerová, Zuzana Mistriková and Martin Jůza, Ph Marek Jícha, Ed David Charap and Krasimira Velitchková.
PubRes/Spring Pictures/Krutart/Czech TV/RTVS/Arcimboldo-Verve Pictures.
92 mins. Czech Republic/UK/Slovenia 2022. UK Rel: 28 April 2023. Cert. 12A.
