_For Sama_ will teach you so much about the Syrian regime / Russian siege of Aleppo that it will fill your heart to the breaking point.

Syrian journalist Waad al-Kateab films her own story of falling in love at the outset of the peaceful protests against a fascist state that soon turned violent when a dozen protesters wash up dead in a river with signs of torture evident on their corpses. (Warning: al-Kateab's camera knows no censorship; there are countless scenes of mutilated bodies and there are enough images of dead children to make you wonder why you didn't do more to get involved in stopping the siege of Aleppo.)

She and her doctor husband have a child and -- as the protest turns into a military offensive on behalf of the ruling party against the civilian population -- the family decide to stay in Aleppo with countless other families. Their mere presence is a sign of rebellion in a doomed revolution for a country that is their home.

Al-Kateab made this film for her infant daughter, Sama, to explain what happened in the first year of her life, but the film is a brutal, beautiful and devastating lesson for a world that seems to care more about political backroom dealings than what's right.

(Note: _For Sama_ won the best documentary award at the Cannes Film Festival 2019.)

'For Sama' is a tough watch, made even harder knowing that the neighbouring city of Idlib is currently under siege in the same way. It is also a beautifully edited and narrated piece that needs to reach as many people as possible, since we have no perception of what the Syrian war was like via traditional news media. This is an important, must-watch film.
- Jake Watt

Read Jake's full article...
https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-for-sama-an-emotionally-devastating-must-watch