KAINO70 The Crossing

The Characters · Karim, the interpreter

The man who translates everything.

Forty-one, from Kabul, now in Montreal. He carries a prayer bead from Kandahar, writes letters to daughters he can’t send, and translates everything - even when no one’s speaking. This is the interpreter in the camp where the body was found.

  • Age 41
  • Kabul, Afghanistan
  • Montreal

The interpreter

Karim, who carries the words between worlds

Karim is 41, from Kabul, and now in Montreal - the interpreter, the one who stands between what is said and what is understood. He prays, then checks the news from Afghanistan quickly, before the day begins, so he can put it away. He’s learned to compartmentalize. It’s the only way to function. He drinks green tea in a small glass, the way his father made it, and closes his eyes for the first sip.

He carries a small plastic prayer bead a Canadian soldier gave him in Kandahar. The power he wishes for is to translate the future - to know what was coming, so he could prepare. He’s spent his whole life reacting.

Medium portrait of a man in his forties with a grey beard and weathered skin, wearing a checkered keffiyeh and a heavy olive winter jacket with a shearling collar, seated in a blurred refugee camp, looking directly at the camera with a weary expression.
Karim

Ten things about Karim you only hear through him

The file is clean. The man isn’t. Ten small rituals that make him real - and the one he can’t turn off.

  1. 01

    How he starts the day

    He prays. Then he checks the news from Afghanistan - quickly, before the day begins, so he can put it away. He’s learned to compartmentalize. It’s the only way to function.

  2. 02

    The one cup that keeps him going

    Green tea, no sugar, in a small glass. The way his father made it. He closes his eyes for the first sip.

  3. 03

    The meal he makes when he can

    Kabuli palaw. Rice with raisins and carrots, lamb slow-cooked in spices. His wife makes it when they have enough money for meat. It’s a celebration meal. They don’t celebrate often.

  4. 04

    What he reads when no one’s around

    He reads Dari poetry, mostly Hafez. He doesn’t let himself read it often - it makes him cry. But sometimes, late at night, he opens the old book and lets the words remind him of who he was.

  5. 05

    The power he wishes for

    To translate the future. To know what was coming, so he could prepare. He’s spent his whole life reacting.

  6. 06

    What he does when he can’t sleep

    He writes letters to his daughters. They’re in Pakistan with his wife. He’ll never send them - too dangerous - but he writes anyway, filling pages with things he’ll tell them someday.

  7. 07

    What he carries

    A small plastic prayer bead, worn smooth, given to him by a Canadian soldier in Kandahar. He doesn’t know the soldier’s name. He doesn’t know why he keeps it.

  8. 08

    The habit he can’t break

    Translating everything. Conversations, songs, advertisements. His brain automatically converts English and French into Dari, even when no one’s speaking. He can’t turn it off.

  9. 09

    The sound that calms him

    The call to prayer, recorded, played from his phone. He listens to it when the camp gets too loud. It’s the sound of somewhere else.

  10. 10

    The name he’d give a pet

    Bahar. Spring. He’d name a bird that, something that could fly wherever it wanted. He’d open the cage, and it would stay.

Souvenirs

Three moments that travel with him. A family meal, a garden visit, a translation in a war zone. Things he carries from one language to another.

  • A family shares a meal at a table, several generations leaning in, hands reaching for food, warm domestic light.
    Family meal.
  • A man helps his grandfather tend to vegetables in a small garden, both bent over the soil, tools in hand.
    With grandfather.
  • A man crouches to translate for soldiers in a field, his hands gesturing, they lean in to listen.
    Translating for soldiers.

He translates everything. He’s spent his whole life reacting. He wishes he could translate the future.

THE CROSSING · character note

Voices from the cold

The sonic portrait of every soul in the story. Karim’s score is the one he plays on his phone when the camp gets too loud - five songs about silence, home, and the world he left.

  1. 01The Sound of SilenceDisturbed
  2. 02O Mio Babbino CaroGiacomo Puccini
  3. 03WatanAhmad Zahir
  4. 04HallelujahLeonard Cohen
  5. 05ImagineJohn Lennon
Listen on Spotify

THE CROSSING · Act I trailer