Story

Donya (Anaita Wali Zada), a former translator for US troops in Afghanistan, finds herself in Fremont, California. She lives in an apartment complex with numerous other Afghan refugees and works at a Chinese fortune cookie factory. On the surface, her life seems good – she’s safe, she has a job, a good friend and a place to live – but Donya is haunted by thoughts of her former life. She holds herself back from enjoying her newfound freedom due to a sense of guilt and is extremely lonely.

Donya is unable to sleep and visits a psychiatrist in order to get sleeping pills. Dr Anthony (Gregg Turkington) helps her look at life through a different lens and, instead of relying on pills, helps her create opportunities that will assist in her rehabilitation.

When Donya is offered a promotion at work, she finds herself in charge of writing the fortunes that go into the cookies and she takes it upon herself to send a personal message out into the world. She could never have predicted the consequences of this simple act of desperation, but, whether she knows it or not, her life will never be the same again.

Themes

War; survivor guilt; post-traumatic stress; problems faced by refugees; loneliness; betrayal

Violence

Fremont has some violence. For example:

• A character mentions that they were unable to kill using mouse poison.
• Donya mentions that several bases she worked for were attacked at different times.
• Donya mentions that a fellow translator was killed almost immediately after he stopped working for the US, while he was still waiting for his papers.
• Donya recalls how another friend of hers was unable to make it to the evacuation flight and how she doesn’t know if he is dead or alive.
• An older woman dies at a keyboard while writing fortunes for cookies.
• Donya’s therapist explains how White Fang was the sole survivor of a family that was decimated by famine. His owner trained him to be a vicious killer and he was nearly killed by a bulldog.

Sexual references

Fremont has some sexual references. For example:

• Donya is told that her single bed doesn’t invite the possibility of ‘company’.
• A friend of Donya’s encourages her to try on-line dating as Donya is wary of blind dates.
• Donya asks her neighbour if he feels guilty thinking about love when there are people risking their lives in Kabul.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Fremont has some substance use. For example:

• Donya believes that sleeping pills will make all her problems go away and tells that to her psychiatrist.
• Men smoke on a balcony.
• Donya visits a colleague in her home after work and they share beers together.

Nudity and sexual activity

There’s no nudity and sexual activity in Fremont.

Product placement

Fremont has some product placement. For example, the book, White Fang, by Jack London is repeatedly referred to and passages are read.

Coarse language

Fremont has some coarse language.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Fremont is an understated drama, filmed mostly in black and white. The movie uses minimal dialogue and has some subtitles. It’s best suited to older audiences.

These are the main messages from Fremont:

• We can’t control what happens to us, but we can control how we view the world and what we do about it.
• It’s important to stand up for what we believe.
• Everyone is entitled to love and happiness.

Values in Fremont that you could reinforce with your children are friendship, persistence, compassion, wisdom and courage.

Fremont could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of things like:

• Feeling responsible for things outside of you control.
• Treating others poorly because they have a different culture or gender, or they do not share your beliefs.
• Keeping yourself isolated due to a sense of guilt.