Flee is one of the most talked about movies of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. This animated documentary feature about a man finally revealing some of the biggest secrets of his life is excellent. NEON and Participant will co-distribute the film later this year. Uno Helmersson is the composer of Flee. In this Animation Scoop Q&A, Helmersson discusses his approaches to the music of this very unique, important movie.

Jackson Murphy: How has this all been for you?

Uno Helmersson: It’s been a rollercoaster. It’s just fantastic news. Everything. Flee was supposed to be at the Cannes Film Festival but everything closed down, so it didn’t show there. So this couldn’t be better.

JM: I’m so glad because this is such a fascinating movie – and certainly unique because it’s an animated documentary feature. How did you first learn about this concept and want to become involved in it?

UH: I’ve been working for such a long time with producer Monica Hellstrom. I’ve written the music for a lot of the films she’s been producing. We have a great collaboration. She introduced me to Jonas Poher Rasmussen, who’s the director, and we just clicked. Working in the process of animation where sometimes we just get a mockup… just images… but I can still hear the voices and everything. [The movie] is built up on an interview. It was kind of a different way of working. I mainly love to go in early on processes because it gives you more space to be creative and try new things or play around. This was right down my alley – this project, in that case.

JM: You’re right in that there’s a lot of animation but there are also a lot of different types of scenes. We get the documentary footage of Amin (and that’s not his real name but it’s used in the film) and Jonas and a few others that’s been animated. We have live-action archival footage. We have Amin’s detailed memories and his visions, which are two different animation styles. So did you approach the different types of scenes differently when it came to what you wanted the music to be?

UH: Maybe not exactly… well, of course I got influenced. I got all the descriptions of how it would look. For example, we would go with his inner visions, so it will be a bit more arty and blurry images. I had those directions. Since the score is quite emotional and inner gain music… and a lot about Amin’s feelings of what is happening. We let the music follow his feelings all the time. I think the main part was mostly to go with him and his feelings. We follow his emotional trip throughout the film. I get affected with the different types of narratives and animations.

JM: It’s quite an emotional trip that we go on with Amin as he’s revealing these things to his friend for the first time that he’s kept secret for so long. A lot of what you do involves strings and cellos… as we hear the buildup to certain moments and sequences. How did you craft the tone that you wanted through the strings and cellos?

UH: I mainly work with strings. I love working with strings. There are so many different types of string instruments. I blend instruments a lot. I blend classical strings with folk string instruments. It’s almost a balance of, ‘What if I try to do this with this instrument?’ My writing is pretty sonically in that case. I mainly get hooked up on something because I hear the sound of the instrument. I love the violins together with voices… and cellos. It’s like layers… waves of emotions. It was a lot of the emotional waves and small textures. I worked with a lot of small textures, more than light motifs, actually.

JM: How did you feel about crafting this rhythm you’re talking about as we go along with Amin’s very interesting rhythm of his saga?

UH: One of the things I really enjoy doing is trying to get inside a person’s mind and try to transcribe it musically. I find it very interesting. I’ve always been interested in psychology and how [people] react. That’s probably why I write narrative music for films because it kind of goes into that realm. I was definitely into the stress and shame of lying and the frightness of being cold… all these kinds of emotions… and being in Denmark. ‘How do you create that musically?’ I’m really, really happy and proud of this score, actually, because I think I actually made it quite good this time! (laughs)

JM: You did a great job with it. And yes, his story is stunning. And the music that accompanies what we learn is fantastic. The core of Flee is Amin revealing all of this for the first time. The movie is about fear and a sense of relief and… pressure to keep secrets and to… trust people. Do you feel similar pressure in making sure you get the music right and then relief in getting it out there and it’s perfect?

UH: I’ve been working so long now that I’m used to the emotional rollercoaster you go through when you’re writing music. Sometimes I could describe it like this: You’re working with this film. You’ve got this project and you’re like, ‘What am I gonna do? I don’t have a clue. I don’t know where it goes. I have an idea. I have some colors of something.’ It’s like you’re standing in front of a mountain and you’re just watching it and thinking, ‘I don’t know how I will conquer this beast.’ But then when you start walking and walking and walking, suddenly you’re on the other side at the bottom of the mountain, and you look back and think, ‘Oh, that wasn’t that hard. I did it. But that was a pretty big mountain.’ It’s like this Yoda [phrase] of ‘Do. Don’t think. Just do.’

UH: That’s probably it. It’s just to start working with it. Of course, you can’t just do things. You need to have a plan or vision. But that comes to it. Some project it’s smaller hills and some projects are bigger mountains. But the main thing of doing it is that you know what you’re doing and things turn out to be good in the end, in the best case. Or you lost your job. Which you also need to be aware of. You can actually lose the job. But hey – that’s okay. You can lose the job. At least if you tried your best and it didn’t work, that’s okay.

JM: Riz Ahmed (who will probably be an Oscar nominee for Sound of Metal) is an executive producer on Flee. He will also voice Amin in the English-language version. How do you feel about him being involved in this movie?

UH: It’s fantastic. When I heard it, I couldn’t really believe it, almost. There are so many things going on with this film. I get goosebumps. It’s gonna be totally amazing. I’m really looking forward to seeing the English speaking version.

JM: Yes. I’m looking forward to it as well. And I think it’s going to be a big year for this movie. What do you think this movie is going to do over this next year for animation, for documentaries, for music and for social impact? What do you think the possibilities are?

UH: That’s a really good question because I don’t have an idea! (laughs) No, I think it’s gonna do a lot. It’s a powerful movie and it’s a fantastic story. Jonas has done this fantastic film which is really important to bring out to the world. Hopefully everyone will see it because it’s an important story and talks about us humans. How it is to be human. How it is to need to flee your country and your history and how you deal with it. Things happen [in life] and you can’t control it. How do you deal with it? You need to survive. That trip Amin has done is an important that I hope the whole world will see and hear about. This is my wish. I wish the film all the success it can have because it’s such an important one. And I’m really proud to be part of it.