Both an achingly sweet love story and a video diary of a revolution betrayed. Waad Al-Kateab, an 18-year-old Syrian economics student, started filming herself and her friends in 2011 when protests against tyrannical President Bashar al-Assad were gripping the country.
By the start of 2016, she’s a citizen journalist and has a small baby girl, the titular Sama. Most of her friends have fled Aleppo because life has become impossible. Al-Kateab feels that leaving would hand Assad a victory they don’t deserve. But is it wrong to put Sama’s life and future at risk?
It’s dark stuff. Al-Kateab lives in a make-shift hospital and when a child dies on the operating table she says she envies the child’s mother (the mother is dead, so at least she won’t have to bury her child). Crucially, Al-Kateab isn’t intruding on grief — the people around her want to be filmed.
Just as importantly, she doesn’t only show horror. Astonishingly nice things happen, over and over again.
No wonder For Sama earned a standing ovation at Cannes (it went on to win best documentary). You leave understanding why for Al-Kateab the past is something she wants to live with every day.
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