Tania has moved from Belarus to Belgium in the hope of finding a better future for her 13-year-old son Ivan. The two of them have already been in Belgium for eight years, speak the language and have become well integrated. However, they have no papers. An application for a permanent residence permit has been refused. One unfortunate day, Tania is picked up during a routine check. She is put in a closed refugee centre, but Ivan manages to escape just in time. The sober and indignant Illégal is the second feature by Wallonian director Olivier Masset-Depasse, after Cages (2006). He looked around in refugee centres, spoke to guards and refugees and was touched by the inhuman story of Tania, who is fighting for her son and is treated like a criminal. She is beautifully acted by Anne Coesens; the camera does not stray for a second from the stiff yet very optimistic Tania, despite her lack of faith in everything and everyone. The quintessential message of this powerful political drama is that it is not she who is illegal, but the system.
