The Refuge

A timely and provocative thriller.

Three young Kurdish men, fleeing the danger and repression in Iraq, smuggle themselves into England, seeking asylum and the chance for a better life. When their papers are lost and one of the men is arrested by police, the other two duck into a London church during a service and beg the priest, Father Michael, to grant them refuge. If they are detained and deported to Iraq, they plead, it will mean certain death. In a tense and heated standoff between church and state, morality and law, the priest allows the two to remain, boldly defying the gathering forces outside the church. Father Michael’s resolve is firm: if the helpless and the powerless cannot rely on the church for sanctuary, where else is it they can go?