1/21/2020 - For Sama (2019) - 8/10

There is certainly beauty in the smouldering rubble, the dust covered emptiness, and the red reflection of battling in the blood; but it is the sweet affection of a spirited rebel family searching for a better life for their child in a war that is destroying their home that cuts the deepest in a soulful viewer’s heart.

Seemingly constantly filming the evolving struggle of life in besieged Aleppo, the human horrors of a war hospital, and the sacred moments of a family’s life stuck there. She has some wonderful moments and shots, and smartly weaves the story by shifting focal time to tell the tale slowly but impactfully .

Her pleadings and questioning certainly makes one feel helpless, impotent and a bit guilty for not ending the atrocities. This was a record not only for her daughter but for the world, to see what we allowed to happen and the souls that were “allowed” to be crushed.