Illegal (2010)

70% of critics liked it
(10 reviews)
50% of users liked it
(7,669 ratings)

Tania is a former teacher from Russia, living illegally in Belgium with her son, Ivan. One day she is stopped for a routine check by the police and is arrested. Separated from Ivan, who manages to escape, she is placed in an immigration detention center for women and children. While utterly refusing… More Tania is a former teacher from Russia, living illegally in Belgium with her son, Ivan. One day she is stopped for a routine check by the police and is arrested. Separated from Ivan, who manages to escape, she is placed in an immigration detention center for women and children. While utterly refusing to face expulsion, Tania thus begins a fight to preserve her dignity, identity and humanity, as well as find her son. -- (C) Film Movement

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min.
Directed By: Olivier Masset-Depasse
Written By: Olivier Masset-Depasse
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Mar 25, 2011 Limited
On DVD: Jul 5, 2011
Studio: Film Movement

Critic Reviews

V.A. Musetto, New York Post
"Illegal" will give people on both sides of the immigrant debate something to think about.
Manohla Dargis, New York Times
A sad movie that makes you feel bad, partly because it gives so little room to thought.
Melissa Anderson, Village Voice
Blunt, loud, and showboaty, Illegal suffers even more when compared with another recent Liège-set film about the horrors faced by paperless immigrants: the Dardennes' Lorna's Silence.
Robert Roten, Laramie Movie Scope
This is a film with a message, but it doesn't preach. The primary focus of the story is not on the immigration issue, but on Tania and her love for her son.
Joseph Proimakis, Movies for the Masses
full review at Movies for the Masses
Ethan Alter, NYC Film Critic
Although made in Belgium, Olivier Masset-Depasse's drama depicts a scenario that should resonate on these shores as well.
Nora Lee Mandel, Film-Forward.com
Exhaustingly depressing view inside the legal morass faced by illegal immigrants awaiting deportation, but Coesens brings extraordinary yet empathetic toughness.
Louis Proyect, rec.arts.movies.reviews
A taut and powerful movie that might have easily been titled "Nobody is Illegal" given its courageous stance against the kind of xenophobia generated by a capitalist system in decline.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
A well-crafted and realistic look at the shameful and humiliating treatment of illegal immigrants in Belgian detention centers.
Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
A haunting excursion into the more often than not invisible world of single motherhood on the edge. And where women with no support systems or resources but tremendous determination would crawl through hell and back to protect and defend their children.