first half of 10 point plan

This film ‘The holding pattern’ to me represents a subjective view of an immigrant’s struggles and life after having come to Britain seeking asylum. It could quite easily have been directed so as to appear the complete opposite way very easily, but the subtle undertones of the piece suggest that the person who wrote the script was merely attempting to spread a message against the prejudices. To me personally it represents a different and un-usual side to a very important story, which some people might be so stubbornly decided already that they pay no attention to any varying opinions, such as the subtle ones in this script.

I would say that the life needs for our character Bogdan are very simple, I imagine him to be not so much scared, as you would assume he was after having immigrated to a different country for whatever reason made him leave Romania, but he seems lonely. The script doesn’t show any attempts to conquer this however, giving the slight idea that the man feels he doesn’t deserve to be accepted into the community and society so much as to have friends and people to communicate to and with, possibly that he was, at the end of the day, forced to come here, and after realising that he’s not welcome, feels he doesn’t deserve to have a life just like everybody else, so in that sense he appears to need someone to tell him its ok to interact, he doesn’t have to sit in the shadows.

Each scene plays a very similar, monotonous role in the script, a lot of them are very mundane activities which come across as possibly even being a ritual or routine which Bogdan does to pass the inevitable time. Its very slow moving and repetitive, for example there’s a section of the script which reads;

Scene 6. Int. Library. Day.
Bogdan is writing an email.
Scene 7. Int. Living Room. Day.
Bogdan is reading an official looking letter. He uses his Romanian to English dictionary to translate the occasional word.
Scene 8. Int. Government Office. Day.
Bogdan stands in a queue. He holds the letter tightly in one hand and his suitcase in the other.
Scene 9. Swimming Pool. Day.
Bogdan is swimming underneath the water.
Scene 10. Ext. Grass verge. Day.
Bogdan stands by the roadside on a grass verge. He holds a suitcase. As cars whiz past he takes a seat.

Its very un-interesting series of events which fill the guys day, just amplifying the monotony that is his life.
The only real insight into the guys personal life or indeed what the actual script is about is this very vague suggestion that he intends to be granted asylum or the permission to live and work legally, he is an example of the side to immigration that genuinely needed help when they came here and are doing everything above board to achieve this. Its still not shown in any great detail though.

To be continued.