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‘For Sama’ Is A Must-See Documentary On Life In War-Torn Aleppo

This article is more than 4 years old.

When in 2011 the first student protests against Bashar al-Assad's oppressive regime erupted in Aleppo—at the time, Syria's most populous city—business student Waad Al-Kateab picked up her camera and started filming.

Following a violent governmental crackdown, the peaceful demonstrations turned into a brutal battle between Assad's troops and a coalition of rebels.

The insurgents were able to seize control of the Eastern part of the city but, after years of relentless shelling and airstrikes, the government, with the determining help of Russian forces, conquered it back.

Waad Al-Kateab kept filming throughout the bloodshed. She documented the atrocities of the war such as the targeted bombing of hospitals, but also more intimate moments like her wedding (with Hamza, a medical doctor) and the birth of their daughter, Sama. Life, even in a city under siege, goes on.

Forced to flee the country, Al-Khateab used her footage to make For Sama, a wrenching, personal but very political documentary on the Syrian conflict recently broadcast by Channel 4 in the U.K. and PBS in the U.S.

"I need you to understand why your father and I made the choices we did," says the 26-year-old filmmaker in the documentary, which is intended as a “love letter” to her firstborn.

During the siege of Aleppo, the family manages to leave the city and visit relatives in Turkey. However, Waad and Hamza decide to go back and to bring Sama with them because “everybody has a role to play” in the conflict.

Waad keeps filming, sending her reportage to U.K. broadcaster Channel 4, and Hamza keeps working at the hospital where victims of the shelling and airstrikes are brought in ceaselessly. Many are children.   

The footage shot inside the hospital is very difficult to watch, unflinchingly depicting scenes of utter devastation. Viewing it make you feel shocked and powerless and, hopefully, urged “to do something” about the situation.

To this end, Waad al-Kateab set up “Action for Sama,” a campaign to stop the targeted bombing of hospitals, a criminal practice that is still employed by Assad’s army. Supporting the initiative, donors can help doctors continue their humanitarian work in Syrian hospitals.

For Sama may not enlighten its viewers on the geopolitics of the Syrian conflict as a proxy war between, among others, United States, Russia, Iran and Turkey but it certainly is an essential documentary on life in Aleppo during the war.

In one of the film’s most powerful scenes, a pregnant woman severely wounded during an airstrike gives birth to her child who, at first, seems unresponsive. However, after moments of unbearable tension, life prevails.

It’s a subtext of stubborn hope that runs throughout the documentary and a potent call to action to support the irreplaceable work of the doctors saving lives in Syria.

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