Sir Mo Farah is a nationwide treasure in the U.Okay.
The Somalia-born hero of the 2012 London Olympics — he gained gold in each the 5,000- and 10,000-metre races — is one in all the most completed athletes in British historical past. In 2017, Queen Elizabeth knighted Farah for his service to sports activities.
For most of Farah’s time in the highlight, followers believed that he had arrived in the U.Okay. together with his household as a refugee. That’s the story he informed on speak exhibits and in his 2013 autobiography, Twin Ambitions.
But that wasn’t the fact.
In a 2022 documentary, Farah reveals that strangers trafficked him to the U.Okay. to work as a home servant when he was simply 9 years outdated. His personal mom says she did not even know he’d been faraway from his uncle’s dwelling in Djibouti, the place he’d been despatched to reside after his father was killed in Somalia’s civil struggle.
Five-star evaluations name the documentary ‘jaw-dropping’ and say it leaves viewers ‘bewildered at the actual story of his life’
The Real Mo Farah premiered on the BBC on July 13, 2022, to extensive acclaim. The Guardian gave the movie a five-star evaluate, calling it “fantastically made and sometimes heartbreaking” and “massively shifting.”
The Independent additionally rated the movie 5 stars. “This jaw-dropping documentary will go away you bruised and bewildered,” Sean O’Grady wrote. “Revelation after revelation, element after element and with one searing emotional confession main to yet one more, the viewer is left punchdrunk, bewildered at the actual story of his life.”
Reviewing the documentary for the i, a British morning paper, Emily Baker wrote: “This was a fragile, purposeful movie which informed a unprecedented story with out sensationalism. While it was an intensely private journey for Farah, it additionally spoke volumes about the trauma carried by victims of home servitude and trafficking.”
Calls to a trafficking helpline spiked after the documentary aired in the U.Okay.
After the documentary aired on the BBC, anti-slavery charity Unseen UK reported a 20 per cent enhance in calls to its fashionable slavery and exploitation helpline.
Charity director Justine Carter informed BBC News that some callers stated listening to Farah’s story prompted them to attain out.
“People really feel very alone and deserted after they’re in that state of affairs themselves, so figuring out that any person else has been a sufferer of one of these crime — and remains to be affected by all of the experiences that they’ve had as a baby — I feel is de facto essential,” she stated.
Farah retraces his life in quest of solutions
The Real Mo Farah follows Farah as he explores his personal extraordinary story and tries to piece collectively how he ended up being trafficked to the U.Okay.
He visits the West London faculty the place his bodily training instructor recognized him as an outstanding younger athlete — however puzzled what was happening at dwelling.
He travels again to his household’s village in Somaliland to ask his mom and twin brother what they learn about the traumatic childhood occasion that modified his life eternally.
And lastly, he turns to the Somali group in London, hoping that they may help him perceive the thriller at the coronary heart of his life.
Watch The Real Mo Farah on The Passionate Eye: Friday, October 14 at 9 p.m.