Welcome Home Review
Where feature-length films struggle to create a sense of naturalism, short films have a much easier time creating and shooting simpler topics. Welcome Home (original title Velkommen Til Oss) is about an Iranian couple who immigrate to a small village in Norway. They are greeted by Jehovah’s witnesses at their door and let them come in because they are eager to learn the language of their new home. Armita Keyani wrote, directed, and edited this film, and this was her graduate film at the Nordland College of Art and Film. Since it was her graduate film, her budget was limited, seeing as how she only has one set for the entire film. The small budget, however, is what adds to the naturalism of the film. Welcome Home is purposefully simple and quirky.
The set is not a big part of the simplicity of this film, but it definitely helps to support the naturalism aspect. The production of this film is nothing extravagant, nor does it need to be. The camera work is the same throughout, making sure to focus only on the actors and their facial expressions. There are two exterior shots that are used to show a passage of time. The first is the opening shot of the film, in the early morning, showing a mountain behind the apartment building and the snowcaps on it. The second is the same mountain, no snow, and during a sunset. The scenes that follow these shots are shot with similar lighting to the exteriors that precede them. After the snow in the morning, the faces of the characters are soft and bright during their first meeting. After the second shot of the mountain, now that the characters know each other more and the Iranian immigrants are tired of seeing the Jehovah’s witnesses, the shots in the apartment are darker. This is aided by the time of day outside and the use of a singular light at the dinner table, creating shadows and contrast in the faces of the actors that weren’t there for the light, friendly morning shots.
The actors of this film and their performances are what truly create the naturalism and real feel of this film. Welcome Home is inspired by true events and is truly believable because this is a common occurrence anywhere in the world (except most people don’t answer the door). The immigrant couple (Elnaz Azgari and Ashkan Ghorbani) and the Jehovah’s witnesses (Ole Jørgen Farstad and Marianne Lauritsen) all play their characters well and realistically. It almost feels like sitting in on an awkward meeting, the way everyone is able to play their characters as though it was their natural selves. As can be expected, all of the conversations are awkward and uncomfortable. Azgari and Ghorbani don’t even care to join their church and are only using them to practice their Norwegian. There are many pauses in the discussions and many uncomfortable silences. Additionally, Keyani has no score and no music throughout the film except for one quick scene where the husband and wife yell at each other to scare away their guests. We are able to hear the stale air of the room during the pauses, along with hearing the actors chewing and swallowing between their bites.
Keyani did the most with what she was given for her final film school project and made a delightful short film. Whether the budget influenced her idea of the story or not, it doesn’t matter because Welcome Home is interesting, quirky, and simple. Welcome Home went on to be screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, and won the Special Jury Prize at the RiverRun International Film Festival.
