In the first episode of "The Journey," Aboud Shalhoub travelled from Turkey to Greece aboard a small dinghy packed with refugees that puttered across the Aegean Sea under the cover of darkness. Now, having reached Athens, Shalhoub hikes up to the Acropolis, in the center of the city. “We’ve reached a country where there’s real freedom,” he tells the filmmaker Matthew Cassel. “I’m speaking from the birthplace of democracy.”
Shalhoub plots out his options. “Greece is just a stop for the Syrians who make it here,” he says. His goal is to reach the Netherlands and apply for asylum and family reunification, so that his wife and two young children can join him. But, to get there, he must make defining choices based on imperfect information. Should he purchase a fake passport and try to board a flight, banking on flaws in airport security? Or should he go on foot, pushing the limits of his own will and body while dodging the police? For the sixteen hundred miles to come, the only certainty is that any logistical mistake could end his odyssey.
This week, The New Yorker, in collaboration with Field of Vision, is featuring “The Journey,” which documents Shalhoub’s travels in six episodes.
For more about Aboud Shalhoub's family and the story behind “The Journey,” read an interview with the documentary’s director, Matthew Cassel.
