Insyriated (15.)
Directed by Philippe Van Leeuw.
Starring Hiam Abbass, Diamand Bou Abboud, Juliette Navis, Mohsen Abbas, Moustapha Al Kar and Alissar Kaghadou. 86 mins.
The process of becoming enveloped in a war zone must be a lot like reverse gentrification: a little bit quicker than you imagined possible, strange new faces with alien values and no regard for all you've invested emotionally in this area, encroach upon your territory and all you held dear is wiped away. The question is then is whether to hold on or get out.
In Damascus, Hiam Abbas (Exodus, The Visitor) is the fierce matriarch trying to preserve some normality in a household of nine crammed into the last occupied apartment in their block. The superficial normality of these rooms form a stark visual contrast with the snipers, bomb blasts and burnt out cars outside in the streets. This Belgium made film meticulously pads out the floor space of their confinement and has a low throb of menace throughout. They are like two opposing films – a tense, claustrophobic thriller, trapped in the middle of a war film. The two are separated only by a barricaded door and you dread the moment when the random barbarity of the outside film will intrude into the orderly tension of the inside one.
It is a grim and unflinching recreation of life in Syria; it has all the harrow you could possible need, maybe a little too much. It forcefully shows us how war and the urge to survive will strip us of our dignity, reduce even the best of us to enlightened cowardice. Personally I could've done with being shown this with a bit less force. Maybe we need to be made aware of the realities of this conflict but I'd have respected the film for doing a bit of flinching. There is a section of the film that is particularly hard to watch; it made me wonder if we really need the pretend degradations of actors to enlighten us to those of real people.
Directed by Philippe Van Leeuw.
Starring Hiam Abbass, Diamand Bou Abboud, Juliette Navis, Mohsen Abbas, Moustapha Al Kar and Alissar Kaghadou. 86 mins.
The process of becoming enveloped in a war zone must be a lot like reverse gentrification: a little bit quicker than you imagined possible, strange new faces with alien values and no regard for all you've invested emotionally in this area, encroach upon your territory and all you held dear is wiped away. The question is then is whether to hold on or get out.
In Damascus, Hiam Abbas (Exodus, The Visitor) is the fierce matriarch trying to preserve some normality in a household of nine crammed into the last occupied apartment in their block. The superficial normality of these rooms form a stark visual contrast with the snipers, bomb blasts and burnt out cars outside in the streets. This Belgium made film meticulously pads out the floor space of their confinement and has a low throb of menace throughout. They are like two opposing films – a tense, claustrophobic thriller, trapped in the middle of a war film. The two are separated only by a barricaded door and you dread the moment when the random barbarity of the outside film will intrude into the orderly tension of the inside one.
It is a grim and unflinching recreation of life in Syria; it has all the harrow you could possible need, maybe a little too much. It forcefully shows us how war and the urge to survive will strip us of our dignity, reduce even the best of us to enlightened cowardice. Personally I could've done with being shown this with a bit less force. Maybe we need to be made aware of the realities of this conflict but I'd have respected the film for doing a bit of flinching. There is a section of the film that is particularly hard to watch; it made me wonder if we really need the pretend degradations of actors to enlighten us to those of real people.
