Tale of a desperate man in a dangerous land is gripping, authentic

Inescapable ★★★½ Starring: Alexander Siddig, Marisa Tomei, Joshua Jackson, Oded Fehr, Jay Anstey Playing at: Forum cinema Parents’s guide: violence

You can’t run away from your past, Ruba Nadda argues in her slowboiling thriller Inescapable. It’s a tense turn for the Syrian-Canadian director of acclaimed 2009 romance Cairo Time and 2005’s Sabah; but one that prioritizes character over plot twists, wham-bam action and special effects.

Adib (Alexander Siddig) is a respected Toronto executive, prim and circumspect, borderline boring.

When he learns his adult daughter Muna (Jay Anstey) has veered off-course from her vacation in Greece to visit his Syrian home- land — and has been missing for several days — he knows what he must do.

He hasn’t returned to Syria in years, but in classic thriller style, he gets pulled back in by circumstances beyond his control. Adib’s daughter was searching for clues to her father’s mysterious backstory; and a backstory he has.

It is revealed in bits and pieces. First, we learn that he was once a soldier in the Syrian military, then that he was active in the Syrian resistance. But where that would normally be grounds for turning this into a Chuck Norris-type shoot ’em up, here it is one more piece of the puzzle that Adib must put back together to remember who he is, who he once was, and how his former homeland functions.

He needs help, and he has scant resources. One of his few remaining links is to his former fiancée (Marisa Tomei, soulful), who is still hurt by the way he left things. She assists him, begrudgingly, but old wounds are reopened, and old in- timacies awakened.

Another is a former friend and romantic rival Sayid, now a highplaced defence agent (Oded Fehr). Can he be trusted? And does Adib have a choice?

Canuck hunk Joshua Jackson surfaces as a Canadian Embassy official with equally dubious motives.

All that is background to Adib’s quest. This film hangs on his psychological and emotional state as he attempts to track down his daughter, and is bruised and abused in the process. Siddig (who also starred in Cairo Time) is up to the challenge, capturing Adib’s determination but also his inner turmoil and insecurity.

There’s more buildup than dustups in Inescapable; but it works, and in a way it’s refreshing. The premise of a man going back to dig up the secrets of his previous life and deal with the mess he left behind is strong enough to make up for any gaps in traditional thriller formulae.

Lushly shot by cinematographer Luc Montpellier (Cairo Time, Sabah, Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz and Away From Her), the imagery has a faded grit that adds authenticity to this drama about a desperate man in a dangerous land.