Using a pure docu style unencumbered by direct-to-camera interviews, Fernand Melgar takes his observational but still impassioned eye into a Swiss detention center for asylum seekers in "The Fortress." Of course, there's no such thing as purely objective cinema, and Melgar, along with top editor Karine Sudan, picked whom and what to focus on, but they've succeeded handsomely in presenting a largely balanced and engrossing look at the problems facing both staff and applicants. Docu deservedly took home Locarno's Golden Leopard for Filmmakers of the Present, surely a foretaste of a healthy fest life along with guaranteed international cable interest.
Shot over 60 days -- the maximum number an asylum seeker can be held -- the docu enters into the lives of the residents of the holding center in the western Swiss town of Vallorbe. Surrounded by barbed wire, with surveillance cameras trained on them 24/7, this institutional, quasi-penal atmosphere can be a trying place for those with such an uncertain future, especially families with children.
As a haven of peace and wealth in the popular mindset, Switzerland is a natural magnet for immigrants, and the famously insular confederation has a complicated relationship with the refugees at her gates. Only 1% of cases receive asylum status; the others are either given provisional admission or 24 hours to leave the country. The global immigration pattern has changed considerably since Rolf Lyssy's 1978 satire, "The Swissmakers," with a much more codified application procedure.
The docu doesn't directly address the current European debate over immigration -- often thinly disguised racism -- instead bringing home the idea that each asylum seeker has a story. Melgar follows only a few groups within the walls of the compound, some at length and others, such as an Armenian with drug issues, only at the start.
Applicants go through a double-interview process. A Somali man with a tale of cannibalism is deemed unreliable, while a Colombian family's chilling account of murder appears far more genuine. Melgar never reveals who gets asylum and who doesn't, but he does create a space for auds to question the tales told as well as the various factors that go into the process.
The tensions arising from cramming so many people from diverse cultures into a restricted area is only briefly touched upon. Certainly, groups predisposed to sparring create visible friction, such as a scene in which Iraqis and Kurds are seen arguing.
Melgar also gives space to the people who work at the center, from security guards to pastors to the relatively new director of the facility, seen briefing his staff on the need for more personal, humane contact with the asylum-seekers. It's difficult to decide whether Melgar deliberately shows the staff in a positive light -- remarkably friendly and compassionate, even when being tough -- or whether it's a byproduct of the editing process. Touches of humor create nice moments of uplift.
This sense of balance, which Melgar also exhibited in "Exit: The Right to Die," combined with his deceptively casual eye, lifts "The Fortress" above the standard docu presentation. Sudan's skillful editing establishes a kind of narrative form out of something potentially amorphous, while d.p. Camille Cottagnoud's judiciously considered lensing contributes to the sense of dignity instilled in each subject. - Jay Weissberg, Variety

Switzerland was more successful in the Filmmakers of the Present competition, for works which are radical and innovative in their approach.
La Forteresse (The Fortress), the winning Swiss documentary by Fernand Melgar, which had its world premiere at Locarno, tells the story of those going through the asylum process at the Registration Centre in Vallorbe in western Switzerland. It charts the strong emotions – swinging from despair to hope – felt by those involved, their reasons for seeking a new life in Switzerland and their encounters with officials.
Melgar made the film in reaction to the tougher asylum laws introduced in Switzerland, which were approved by the population in 2006. "I wanted to understand what was fuelling this fear of the other in this country, what was driving us to lock the gates and transform this land of asylum into an impregnable fortress," Melgar said of his film.
Melgar has made his name on the Swiss cinema scene through his documentaries on challenging topics. In 2005 he made Exit – le droit de mourir (Exit – the right to die), dealing with assisted suicide. The jury praised the The Fortress as dealing well with a delicate subject that was nevertheless contemporary and had a wider resonance. - Isobel Leybold-Johnson, Swissinfo

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