desperately wants to assimilate, painting over the peeling walls and trying to live like his neighbors to "be one of the good ones."
At the heart of the haunting is an , or "night witch." Unlike traditional Western ghosts, the apeth is a creature from South Sudanese folklore that Bol and Rial believe followed them across the ocean. The film uses this entity to externalize the couple's survivor's guilt —the haunting isn't just about malevolent spirits, but the weight of the moral compromises they made to escape their homeland. The Horror of Bureaucracy His House
The film is noted for its unique "dual horror." While the nights are filled with wall-crawling specters, the daytime offers a different kind of dread: the . Bol and Rial are placed in a dilapidated house and forbidden from working or moving, essentially trapped in a space that feels hostile both physically and socially. This "social horror" highlights the isolation and alienation often felt by displaced people. Survival vs. Memory desperately wants to assimilate, painting over the peeling
: The film maintains a rare 100% critic score , praised for its "visceral scares" and "stark, thoughtful" storytelling. Bol and Rial are placed in a dilapidated
