Hacker Cinema
For Sama
2019 · Film · documentary · 100 min
Directed by Waad al-Kateab, Edward Watts
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
2 positivefrom 2 commenters
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2 comments on Hacker News
You clearly have no idea what it's like to live under a dictatorship.
Well I do sir, I lived under the Islamic Republic of Iran for half my life.
If you think people can just "rise up", protest and overthrow the government, then you are clueless. Dictators will not hesitate to fire live rounds at their own people, they will torture and imprison everyone, cut all communication from outside and spew propaganda 24/7 to keep people in the dark.
Further, you don't even need to look far in history to see what happens if people do indeed "rise up", it happened in Syria [0] with the Arab spring and the civil war has been going on for over a decade now. It has basically turned the country into dust and it has been made inhabitable, if you don't believe me checkout "For Sama" [1]
So no, I don't blame the ordinary Russian civilians. My prayers go out to the people of Ukraine AND Russia right now.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_civil_war [1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9617456/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3
For those curious, here is a free link to For Sama, one of the Oscar-nominated documentaries mentioned: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/for-sama/
It is also available on the PBS Video app. It has a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes.