RUN
(director/writer: Uwe Boll; cinematographer: Mathias Neumann; editor: Ethan Maniquis; music: Stan Koch, Maarten Buning; cast: Amanda Plummer (Anna), James Russo (Eddie), Ulrich Thomsen (Matt), Barkhad Abdi (Ismael), Kristen Renton (Julia), Daniel Sauli (Cappi), Costas Mandylor (Boss), Michel Qissi (Abdul), Sammy Sheik (Idris), Hannah Balogun (Selena), Marcus Henderson (Oumar), Daniela Piperno (Daniela), Danielle Favilli (Mayor Gadi), Antonio Scarpa (Police Officer), Desirie Giorgetti (Police Clerk), Matteo Pasquini (Alex Puglisi), Mirko Soldano (Restaurant Boss); Runtime: 97; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Boris Velican, Uwe Boll; Borvel Film/Quiver; 2025-Germany/Croatia/Canada/USA-in Italian, English, with English subtitles)
“A group of African boat people seek asylum.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A political thriller audaciously directed and written by the German born Black filmmaker Uwe Boll (“Alone in the Dark”/”Darfur-The Forgotten War”), who lived in Canada before returning to Germany. The low-budget thriller was filmed entirely in Baska, Croatia, and except for a few technical flaws looks rather good.
A group of diverse Africans seek asylum when smuggled into a small town on the Southern Italian seacoast on a rubber boat, by criminal smugglers, to a modest tourist town that has seen several other boats recently land there and is upset their town has been targetted. The presence of the desperate refugees impacts both the locals and the tourists, who are upset with the migrants illegally invading their town. Things become tense, as the refugees arrive on the beach and run through the town in all directions escaping from the pursuing police. We follow for one-day their plight to sneak into Europe and try to make a better life for themselves.
In town, the immigrant hater, the ex-soldier American transplant Eddie (James Russo), operates a failing charter boat service with his callous daughter (Kristen Renton) and partner (Ulrich Thomsen). At gun-point Eddie captures a few refugees that he turns over to the police captain (Daniel Sauli).
Anna (Amanda Plummer) is an American tourist traveling alone, who finds a refugee in pain (Hannah Balogun) and tries unsuccessfully to bribe a police officer to let the asyium seeker sneak into the country.
It’s a well-staged social-political drama that’s tense, believable and well-acted by its ensemble cast. But it was painful to watch without feeling upset over the sticky confrontational situation for both the desperate refugees and the rattled locals.
It played at the Obscura Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 5/1/2026 GRADE: B
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