Year: 2016
Runtime: 115 min
Language: Tamil
Director: Jacques Audiard
Fleeing a war-torn Sri Lanka, a former freedom fighter, along with a woman and child, assume new identities and seek asylum in Paris. Hoping for a peaceful life, Dheepan finds himself struggling to leave his violent past behind. However, the challenges of adjusting to suburban life and facing unexpected dangers force him to confront his ingrained warrior instincts and fight to protect his new family.
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Sivadhasan, a soldier of the Tamil Tigers, grapples with the aftermath of the Sri Lankan Civil War during its final days. Following the defeat of his faction, he is compelled to seek refuge in a camp, where he devises a bold plan for a new beginning in France. Yet, to gain political asylum, he must fabricate a credible backstory. He takes on the identity of a deceased individual, Dheepan Natarajan, and teams up with strangers, pretending they are his family. He boards a ship towards Paris with his supposed wife, Yalini, and their presumed 9-year-old daughter, Illayaal.
Upon reaching Paris, Sivadhasan secures a position as a caretaker in a dilapidated housing project known as Le Pré. Unfortunately, this new environment soon reveals itself to be fraught with danger, as it is dominated by local drug dealers. The location was filmed in the tranquil estate of La Coudraie, situated in suburban Poissy, yet it unfolds into yet another battleground for Sivadhasan. As rival gangs wage violent confrontations, Yalini and Illayaal are left terrified while grappling with their new roles as mother and daughter. In this tense atmosphere, Yalini faces pressure to accept a job as a maid for the father of a prominent drug lord.
Despite the chaos that engulfs their lives, Sivadhasan diligently fulfills his responsibilities, but soon finds himself entangled in the conflict. In a pivotal moment, he is thrust into a fierce gunfight that rekindles his dormant combat instincts. Armed with only a handgun, a machete, and a screwdriver, he valiantly dismantles an entire gang, showcasing his formidable skills. In a heart-stopping rescue mission, he saves Yalini from the horrific clutches of her employer’s apartment, stained with blood.
Together, they ultimately manage to immigrate to England, a journey that finally leads them to a semblance of genuine peace and security.
Last Updated: November 16, 2024 at 18:26
Discover curated groups of movies connected by mood, themes, and story style. Browse collections built around emotion, atmosphere, and narrative focus to easily find films that match what you feel like watching right now.
Refugees and exiles find their combat skills are needed in their new home.If you liked Dheepan, you'll appreciate these films about refugees and former fighters forced to use their violent pasts to protect their new families. These stories explore the tension between seeking peace and being compelled to fight, often set against the backdrop of immigration and urban danger.
The narrative follows a protagonist with a violent history—a soldier, freedom fighter, or criminal—attempting to assimilate into a peaceful society. Their past is a secret burden, but when a new threat emerges from local crime or systemic oppression, they must choose between maintaining their cover and unleashing their dormant skills to defend their new community or family.
Movies in this thread share a core conflict: the inability to outrun one's past. They blend the emotional weight of displacement and the struggle for a normal life with the high-intensity tension of latent violence suddenly becoming necessary. The pacing often builds slowly towards an explosive confrontation.
Strangers thrown together by circumstance become a real family under pressure.Discover movies similar to Dheepan that center on found families created by necessity. These dramas explore how strangers, often immigrants or survivors, build profound relationships while facing shared trauma, crime, and the struggle for survival, resulting in a deeply protective bond.
The story revolves around a group of people—often loners, orphans, or refugees—who are forced to pretend to be or accidentally become a family unit. Through shared struggles against a hostile environment, crime, or poverty, their fabricated relationship transforms into genuine, fierce love and protection, becoming the central emotional anchor of the film.
These movies are grouped by their heavy emotional focus on non-biological kinship. The 'family' dynamic is the core, born from survival needs and strengthened through shared trauma. The tone is often somber and tense, with a pacing that allows the relationships to develop authentically before being tested by high-stakes conflict.
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