{"id":479711,"date":"2026-06-16T07:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T07:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/479711\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T07:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T07:34:08","slug":"nightwatchers-review-desperate-struggle-of-migrant-crisis-under-surface-of-picture-postcard-ski-resort-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/479711\/","title":{"rendered":"Nightwatchers review \u2013 desperate struggle of migrant crisis under surface of picture-postcard ski resort | Movies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">With its rustic wooden chalets and spectacular alpine peaks, the French ski town of Montgen\u00e8vre has long been a popular holiday destination. Looking past these postcard-perfect vistas, Juliette de Marcillac\u2019s absorbing documentary paints a very different picture, focusing instead on a humanitarian crisis that festers beneath the snow-white image of an idyllic locale.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">A whirl of confusion and fear envelops the film\u2019s startling opening sequence, which follows a group of desperate migrants trekking across the Italian border into Montgen\u00e8vre, with the hope of claiming asylum in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/france\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">France<\/a>. Among them are pregnant women and even small children, many of whom suffer from frostbite, exhaustion and other life-threatening conditions. Their plight, however, is met only with intimidation and orders of arrest from the local police force.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Wading through the chaos are the titular nightwatchers \u2013 local volunteers working in migrant aid. The jagged handheld cinematography channels the urgency of their efforts, as the helpers offer warm clothes, hot water, and medical assistance to those in need. In the face of police intimidation, these acts of care are suffused with the fervour of resistance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Much of the film unfolds with the gripping suspense of a thriller. A tense cat-and-mouse dynamic exists between the volunteers and the police, whose members are surveilling not only the border-crossing migrants but the nightwatchers themselves. Though largely observational, De Marcillac\u2019s visual approach also emphasises sobering contrasts. At times, the camera pans from the slumped figures of the travelling migrants \u2013 many of whom have already walked for thousands of miles \u2013 to the gondola lifts and colourful billboards; the juxtaposition lays bare the hypocrisies that underpin the treatment of asylum seekers. When day breaks, Montgen\u00e8vre will once again open itself up to the throngs of tourists. Meanwhile, for those confined to the surrounding forests, their right to freedom of movement is cruelly crushed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\"> Nightwatchers is on True Story from 19 June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With its rustic wooden chalets and spectacular alpine peaks, the French ski town of Montgen\u00e8vre has long been&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,409,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-479711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}