Seeking solace in surrealism

WRITER-DIRECTOR Soudade Kaadan presents a unique yet powerful and moving perspective of the Syrian conflict and Syrian refugees in this part drama part fairytale film.

Fourteen-year-old Zeina (impressive newcomer Hala Zein) and her family are the last to have stayed in their besieged hometown of Damascus. When a missile blows all their windows out and rips a giant hole in their home, her father Mutaz (Samer al Masri) still refuses to leave.

They have no water, no electricity and Zeina’s bedroom ceiling is now open to the elements, yet Mutaz remains adamant. In fact, the idea of becoming a refugee sends him into a fury. On hearing the word displacement, he starts screaming and shouting at his wife Hala (Kinda Alloush) and daughter as he does not want that uncertain life for them.

Meanwhile a neighbour’s son Amer (Nizar Alani) befriends Zeina, dropping a rope through the hole in her room which allows her to escape to the roof and the outside. There they both dream about going to the beach and swimming in the sea.

Kaadan interweaves lightness and magic realism with the darkness and desolation of the conflict as the film is divided in three phases before the bomb, after the bomb and through the streets.

It isn’t until after the flat is bombed that the film shifts to this magic realism and Zeina gradually starts seeing the sea in the sky. Once her mother decides to leave with her she begins to witness it too but being an adult she cannot fully immerse herself in Zeina’s universe.

In the meantime, Mutaz is becoming ever more deluded, controlling and verbally abusive.

Featuring standout performances from the whole cast, particularly Zein who is totally captivating, giving a haunting turn in this her first-ever film role.

As mother and daughter attempt to leave the city with the help of Amer, they see their dreams of visiting the seaside and their future more clearly.

This slow-burning drama is a surreal but surprisingly upbeat portrayal of life during war and of displacement.