Tanya’s Score: Great*
Rated: 18A
Starring: real life Syrians in besieged Aleppo.
Plot: This documentary is filmed by a young mother (Waad Al-Kateab) as a record for her infant daughter Sama, as they struggle to survive and help others during the Battle of Aleppo (2012-2016).
Tanya’s Verdict: It’s been a very long while since a movie affected me like this one. There are several scenes that are not for the faint-hearted – and one in particular affected me more than any other. My daughter asked me if we should stop the movie at that point. But how could we? When this movie was made for people like us. People who are sitting comfortably in their warm houses watching and learning about a conflict in another part of the world.
So we bore witness to the devastation and the deaths and the real people who suffered and grieved and tried their best.
What I loved most about For Sama are the brief glimpses of beauty and happiness and even hope – in this city that is seemingly falling apart all around. A woman is overjoyed by the gift of a persimmon; snow falls and covers the bomb scars.
Yet that one scene persists. And I could barely sleep after watching.
*Four score descriptions: Sh**; Okay; Good; Great