When Belonging Becomes a Logistical Question

Read Time:5 Minute, 35 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
2m²
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Genre: Documentary
Year Released: 2026
Runtime: 1h 23m
Director: Volkan Üce
Where to Watch: shown at the 2026 International Film Festival Rotterdam

RAVING REVIEW: What does it mean to belong somewhere when even death refuses to make that decision simple? 2m² opens with a deceptively modest premise and steadily reveals itself as one of the more quietly disarming documentaries I’ve seen in some time, using a single profession to examine migration, identity, and the uneasy compromises that define life lived between cultures. There’s something about following along in a process that lets you see those final moments that will make you look at things differently. (‘How Much Land Does a Man Require?’ is the English title of an 1886 short story by Leo Tolstoy. In contemporary terms, the answer could be: 2m² – the size of a grave.)

Directed by Volkan Üce, the film centers on Tayfun Arslan’o, an undertaker serving the Belgian Turkish community in and around Genk (a city and municipality in the province of Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium). His daily work revolves around a question that is both practical and emotionally loaded: where should the dead be buried? For families who have spent decades navigating life between Belgium and Turkey, that choice is rarely straightforward. Cemeteries aren’t just destinations; they are declarations of identity, memory, and belonging, and Üce understands that the weight of this question sits at the heart of every interaction Tayfun manages.

What immediately sets 2m² apart is its refusal to frame death as something ceremonial or distant. Tayfun approaches his work with wry humor, calm pragmatism, and an ethical seriousness that never tips into self-importance. The film allows his personality to guide its tone, and that decision pays off. There’s an unexpected warmth here, a sense that laughter and grief coexist not as contradictions but as parallel responses to the same uncertainty. Tayfun isn’t insulated from sorrow, but he is never broken by it either. He understands the systems he operates within, even when those systems become chaotic.

Üce structures the documentary around the small moments that follow every passing. Bureaucratic hurdles, religious expectations, cross-border logistics, and family disagreements all surface organically, never shaped into manufactured drama. Instead, the film observes how these pressures accumulate. A body must be transported. Paperwork must be approved. Flights must be scheduled. Customs rules must be obeyed. Each step pulls the family further into a process that transforms grief into administration, and 2m² is sharp enough to recognize how alienating that transformation can feel.

Tayfun is not presented as a stand-in for an entire community, nor are the families flattened into case studies. Üce allows conversations to play out, including moments of frustration, uncertainty, and even impatience. These exchanges are where the documentary finds its emotion. People hesitate. They second-guess. They argue. The question of where someone should rest becomes inseparable from questions about where their life truly happened, and who gets to define that answer.

One of the film’s more surprising achievements is its gentle comedic undercurrent. The humor doesn’t want to undercut the seriousness of death; rather, it exposes the strange contradictions built into modern mourning rituals. Import and export regulations clash with spiritual customs. Religious expectations collide with airline schedules. Tayfun’s ability to navigate these tensions with a straight face becomes a kind of performance in itself, one grounded in experience rather than detachment. The best example I can think of shows up early in the film, as he’s setting up a table with a tent. Mother Nature has other plans: the tent blows over, his display gets broken, papers fly off, yet he stays remarkably calm and balanced as he fixes each issue.

2m² keeps its focus tight. Üce avoids excess, favoring observation over stylization. This restraint reinforces the film’s themes. Death is not dramatized. It’s processed. The camera stays close enough to capture expressions and pauses without intruding. Editing choices prioritize clarity, allowing scenes to breathe without overstaying their welcome. The result is a documentary that feels paced without calling attention to its construction.

There is no definitive answer to the question it raises. The title, borrowed indirectly from Tolstoy’s provocation, remains an open wound rather than a conclusion. Two square meters may be the physical requirement, but the emotional and cultural dimensions extend far beyond that boundary. The film understands that belonging is not something death presents to you, especially for those who have spent their lives negotiating multiple identities.

This time of year, when most documentaries chase urgency through confrontation or extravaganza, 2m² stands out by trusting its subject. It doesn’t rush to moral judgment. It does not inflate its self-importance. Instead, it allows meaning to emerge through repetition, through the understanding that every family arrives at this crossroads believing their situation is unique, even as patterns repeat.

By the film's final moments, it becomes clear that Tayfun’s greatest skill isn’t the logistical expertise but empathy tempered by realism. He understands that grief doesn’t need guidance, but structure sometimes does. In that balance, 2m² finds its voice, offering a portrait of what is often overlooked and of a community that continues to live and die between worlds.

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[photo courtesy of FILMFAUST FILMPRODUKTION, 2PILOTS FILMPRODUCTION, MENUETTO FILM, MITRA FILMS]

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