When returning ‘Lost Luggage’ can ease the pain of grief

This engrossing Belgian drama puts an empathetic spin on the concept of baggage.

Belgian singer Lara Chedraoui plays Samira Laroussa in ‘Lost Luggage’. Source: (c) Jo Voets

On 22 March 2016, Zaventem airport in Brussels was the target of a

in which 32 people were killed and scores injured. Loved ones never returned home, survivors were forever changed.

Lost Luggage, a Belgian drama series that takes a fictionalised but deeply gripping look at the aftermath, begins with alarm clocks buzzing on the morning of the attack. Frenchman Benny is packing his bags, then calls his wife and daughter from the airport. Airport police officer Samira wakes up next to husband Tom. Despite a bout of morning sickness, Samira shows up at work as usual. When she gets there, she grabs a coffee and steps out of the airport with her takeaway just moments before the first of the three blasts.

On the tenth day after the attack, a convoy of trucks returns all the luggage abandoned in the departure hall to the airport from police headquarters. It’s enough to fill a warehouse.

Police officer Blanche (Isabelle Van Hecke) with some of the most heart-rending items of luggage left behind. Source: Distributor

There is an immense amount of work to do in the aftermath. Emotions are running high for police staff on the ground at the airport. There are colleagues in hospital, but there’s no time to process the shocking event with the weight of their workloads and an uncaring executive who expect them to just get on with it.

A new and pressing task is to return the luggage to the victims or their families. Samira is put in charge. When her colleague Glen can’t handle the visit to the office of the family of a passenger killed in the blast, Samira takes over. They’re looking for his backpack. Once she succeeds in getting it back to them and witnesses the profound effect it had on their family, Samira shifts from being reluctant about the mammoth task to being eager to return luggage to as many people as she can.

A real-life woman did this. It was reading an article about her that inspired co-writer Tiny Bertels (who also appears in the show as Frieda) to create Lost Luggage. Bertels has said she was "instantly gripped. Her stories deal with comfort, powerlessness, solidarity.”

Samira’s ailing boss, John Verlaak (Willy Thomas). Source: Distributor

Bertels has drawn true-to-life characters, including John Verlaak, Samira’s boss, the usually tightly controlled Superintendent who is losing his grip on reality with each passing day. Samira’s dedicated husband Tom Theys, who is thrilled that Samira is finally pregnant after years of trying. Samira’s young colleague Peter, who lost a leg in the blast but is determined to maintain his optimism. Fellow police officer, Blanche, who can’t contain her sadness and anger.

But it’s Samira who is at the heart of this drama, and it’s her we rally around. She has much to grapple with in her personal life. Her estranged father has reached out after 20 years of her cutting all ties with him, and she still doesn’t want to talk. Tom’s worried she’s working too hard.

Samira Laroussa (Lara Chedraoui). Source: Distributor

Instead of facing up to things, she throws herself into her work, jeopardising her own wellbeing as well as her relationships with those most dear. For Samira, handling the luggage becomes more than a duty; it’s a therapeutic activity. She keeps her cards close to her chest, but it’s all catching up with her.

Lara Chedraoui plays Samira with huge heart. In her other life, Chedraoui is the frontwoman of indie rock band

Intergalatic Lovers

. Here, she is perfectly cast to encapsulate the complexities of a woman processing deep emotions, family trauma and major life changes.

Samira and Tom (Jeroen Van der Ven). Source: Distributor

This drama, mainly in Dutch with a peppering of French, will quickly wind its way round your heart. As Samira is half Moroccan, it also deals with racism and culture clashes, renewed anti-Islam sentiment in the wake of the attack, which was claimed by ISIS, and under-resourced overloaded workplaces.

Each of the six episodes follows the story of a victim of the attack. Dedicated to all victims of terrorism, it’s a moving tribute and a heartfelt depiction of what it might’ve been like for those there that day, and who had to keep things moving afterwards.

Lost Luggage is now streaming

at SBS On Demand

. The six-part series will also air on SBS on Tuesday nights from May 14. See episodes 1 and 2 from 11.55 pm on Tuesday 14 May; episodes 3 and 4 from 11:05 pm on Tuesday 21 May; and episodes 5 and 6 from 11:05pm on Tuesday 28 May.