While the world will eventually recover from the COVID-pandemic, the same cannot be said about many of the conflicts in Arabic states, with Syria being perhaps the most problematic and disastrous. After the spark of hope that came with the Arab Spring in the early 2010s, the world stood in (silent) shock as dictators and authoritarian regimes took drastic measures to ensure their rules remained. In Syria, the revolution was eventually met with the regime of president Assad, supported by his Russian allies, bombarding his own people, resulting in an unprecedented humanitarian disaster. With much of the media being censored or downright banned by the regime, the world only got to know about the revolution as well as the eventual siege thanks to people like citizen journalist Waad al-Kateab and her husband Hamza al-Kateab, a doctor who gave many interviews during the siege for Western media outlets.
“For Sama” is screening at Arab Film Festival Berlin
In “For Sama”, a documentary Waad al-Kateab co-directed with English filmmaker Edward Watts, she looks back at her last five years living in Aleppo, the capital of Syria, using the recorded footage of the uprising, the siege, but also her private life, most importantly, the birth of Sama, her daughter, who she dedicates the documentary to. Starting with her moving to Aleppo to study economy, the feature follows the development of the uprising, the feeling of freedom, mirrored by Waad falling in love with Hamza, who takes care of the people injured by the forces of the regime. Experiences of joy and happiness, such as her marriage and the birth of her daughter, are overshadowed by the escalation of the conflict, resulting in the Battle of Aleppo. With conditions getting worse and worse with each day, the young family has to decide whether they should stay and continue to fight or flee towards the safe, but unknown shores of another country.
Experiencing the development of the revolution and the start of the Syrian Civil War through the eyes of a young family certainly leaves an impression with the viewer. The repeated efforts to lead a family life, the joy of moving in to a new home and playing with your child are nearly always accompanied by sounds of conflict, from faint gunshots to the rumbling of a bomb going off somewhere. As time goes by, these sounds become more concrete and get closer, highlighting the level of threat and the approach of the regime taking back the city one district at a time. Waad al-Kateab's images stress the reality of this conflict, how it threatens and also destroys human life, while the rest of the world, as she points out repeatedly, silently watches in shock.
In many ways, “For Sama” is a story about the attempt of a regime to destroy every notion of hope. The image of the small group of people still left inside the small hospital Waad's husband has founded develops over time, from small glimpses of hope to instances of gallows humor, but also images of happiness, for example, of children playing. These scenes leave not doubt about the inhumanity of the regime and of war in general being directed at notions of family, companionship and the concept of home.
“For Sama” is a powerful documentary about the Syrian revolution and the Civil War. Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts manage to give a face to the conflict, highlighting its realities, while also telling a story about families trying to maintain something resembling a normal childhood for their children.
