<p>LONDON — Egyptian actor Amir El-Masry was reluctant to read the script of “Limbo.”</p>
<p>He was concerned the film, about refugees waiting on a remote Scottish island for residency, would involve established tropes about a Western savior coming to the rescue. </p>
<p>Instead, it made him reach for the phone and call his agent.</p>
<p>“I was like, ‘I was wrong, you know, it isn’t just any old kind of story about the refugee crisis.’”</p>
<p>El-Masry rejoiced that his character, Omar, “is in the forefront of the narrative and there isn’t a Western character leading him on and letting him forget about his past,” which was exactly as writer-director Ben Sharrock had intended.</p>
<p>“Limbo” is based on Sharrock’s own experience of studying and living in Arab countries, visiting refugee camps, and rooted in the fact that asylum-seekers are often sent to remote areas of northern European countries while they wait to hear their fate.</p>
<p>He believed the audience could relate directly to the characters, without a Western character acting as the guide.</p>
<p>El-Masry’s Omar is grouped together with other immigrants in a house on a cul-de-sac. The only thing they have in common is they are all stranded in a strange land.</p>
<p>And while he’s left Syria, it’s clear Omar is still dreaming of the people, places and smells of home. If it was safe, he would be there.</p>
<p>Born in Cairo and raised in London, El-Masry has seen the warm response to the movie on the film festival circuit, showing in Cannes, Toronto, San Sebastian and Zurich.</p>
<p>He feels audiences are connecting to the idea of identity and being in an unfamiliar place away from friends and family.</p>
<p>Co-star Vikash Bhai thinks that the pandemic has also created parallels, even though it was shot in 2018.</p>
<p>“More than ever, you’d be able to relate to that kind of experience, of being in limbo, of not knowing where you stand, what’s coming next.”</p>
<p>El-Masry also feels the film is “a beautiful reflection of life in general,” balancing comedy and drama.</p>
<p>“All the mishaps end up being very, very funny for want of a better word” he says, adding that British and Arabic cultures tend to laugh at misfortunes. “That’s something that’s quite relatable in that sense.”</p>
<p>El-Masry studied Syrian dialect, met with groups of single male refugees and spent two months on a quest to master the oud musical instrument for a scene in the movie (it takes seven years in the real world) — bringing a film extra to tears with his performance.</p>
<p>The film itself was shot on the Uist islands, in the Outer Hebrides, the first feature to be made there.</p>
<p>Sharrock admits that battling the area’s gale force winds, rising tides and changeable weather was almost impossible, although worth it for the result.</p>
<p>While the scenery can look both bleak and breathtaking, there is optimism and hope — especially in the form of Farhad, Omar’s Afghan roommate played by Bhai, who has the patience and positivity to sustain him in this strange purgatory.</p>
<p>It helps that Farhad also has a chicken named after Freddie Mercury.</p>
<p>“For the emotional stuff, we had one chicken. And then for all the stunts, it was the other one,” Bhai said.</p>
<p>“I’ve never really hung out with a chicken before, but he was super chill, man. He’d just snuggle up and be very comfortable.”</p>
<p>The movie also stars Sidse Babett Knudsen, Ola Orebiyi and Kwabena Ansah.</p>
<p>“Limbo” was a nominee for outstanding British film of the year at the BAFTAs, although the honor went to “Promising Young Woman.” It opens in U.S. theaters on Friday.</p>
