Dealing with the death of his father, Amar (Adeel Akhtar) travels the twenty-four-mile journey to work on foot. While he’s been on The Walk before, this one is particularly difficult. He endures pain and suffering, and the world as he once knew it is no more.
In a film that’s just more than ten minutes in length, The Walk should go by quickly, effectively pulling viewers through the story without ever stopping. However, that’s not necessarily the case with The Walk. Paced slowly, and with just enough content to fill the story, the film actually moves by slower than I would have expected going in. I appreciate that we aren’t rushed through the film, that we are given time to digest the things taking place, because I believe The Walk takes a bit of time to understand. With a lot going on in Amar’s life, but not so much happening in front of us, viewers are given a chance to better understand the film’s protagonist and his plights, making for a stronger connection between us and him.
The walk that Amar faces on a daily basis is a difficult one, more than many walk over the course of an entire week, and viewers have to understand how bleak his life is at this time. The Walk shows viewers just that, a bleak setting in which the hardships of Amar are fully realized. Again, there is a lot going on in his life, most of which is negative, and having an often barren landscape (of sorts) exist both in front of and behind him really works wonders for the film. Again, this pulls us in and helps Amar develop in a way that appeals to viewers, and as we are, again and again, subjected to the less-than-ideal setting, we better understand him and the story.
The entirety of The Walk is harrowing in tone. It’s dark, challenging, and truly heartbreaking, as, time and time again, we have to hear about Amar’s difficult existence. The Walk is heavily reliant on whether or not viewers are able to connect with the main character, if they are able to understand him–and the entirety of the film lends itself to that, ensuring that this works. Not a moment passes, not a single decision is made that doesn’t work in this way. By the end of the film, Amar is fully realized, a complete character, and a perfect embodiment of all that we struggle with on a day-to-day basis.
Directed by Michael Jobling.
Written by Sophie Ellerby.
Starring Adeel Akhtar, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
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