[Lee Jong-gil's Film Reading] Dangerous Politics Contained in War Expos? Films

Documentary Film 'Samaege'

The documentary film 'To Sama' begins with a shot of a newborn baby cooing. She is Sama al-Khatib, the daughter of director Waad al-Kateab. The baby smiles and babbles to the lullabies her mother sings. At that moment, the screen starts to shake. The cause becomes clear through a conversation between Waad and her husband Hamza al-Kateab.

"Waad, go downstairs. Looks like another bombing." "I'm coming. Can someone watch Sama for a bit?" "Let's hurry down." "Another bomber?" "No, tanks." "This is crazy, how can this happen every day?"

White smoke rises in the hallway they pass through. Shells have fallen behind the building. Despite the life-threatening danger, Waad does not put down her camera. She has been recording the events happening around her for five years. The Syrian civil war, which still shows no sign of resolution.

'To Sama' vividly conveys the horrors of war and the suffering of refugees. The city, reduced to ruins by bombings, becomes a playground for innocent children. The children are not startled by the sounds of shells and gunfire. Yet no matter how often they face it, death never becomes familiar. The city is gripped by the fear of losing family at any moment.

Waad points to the Assad regime, which has lasted for half a century, as the root of the violence. She claims the civil war broke out because the government suppressed the pro-democracy movement. However, the issue is complicated by internal ethnic and sectarian conflicts as well as the involvement of extremism and separatism. It has escalated into a proxy war between the United States and Russia, reaching an uncontrollable state.

For a revolution to succeed, many people must support a new paradigm. Syria has not yet reached that level. Rather, the middle ground?neither pro-regime nor anti-regime?is critical of the opposition. The anti-regime groups also commit inhumane crimes such as massacres without hesitation. In the book 'Forty Years of the Assad Regime' by Masaki Kunieda, a former Japanese ambassador to Syria, the following anecdote is introduced.

"My friend's nephews were kidnapped and killed by anti-regime groups in Homs. The testimonies and confessions forcibly made on YouTube were fabricated. They were abducted by men wearing black hoods that revealed only their eyes and had their heads cut off in front of citizens. The citizens were paralyzed, unable to move their hands or feet, helpless in the face of such grotesque scenes."

Waad completely ignores such incidents. She only shows attacks by the Bashar al-Assad regime and Russia. The title and poster prominently feature Sama. This raises suspicion of intentional staging to evoke sympathy. In reality, Waad could have left Sama safely at her parents' home. Yet she carries Sama on her back and continues filming, saying that is hope and the future...

Hamza appeals for international community support through media interviews. However, major Gulf satellite broadcasters like Al Jazeera have long lost objectivity. They have even caused controversy by actively providing satellite phones to opposition groups. The opposition is also busy reporting fabricated news. They deliberately concealed facts such as the Syrian government holding a constitutional referendum.

The opposition receives broad understanding and support from the international community. Yet they fail to gain strong sympathy from the Syrian people. The Assad regime also shows no signs of collapse. In fact, very few have defected from the military, security forces, or police.

Kunieda stated, "While confronting armed opposition forces, the Syrian government has a series of reform policy proposals. It is necessary to point out that the content they aim for is very advanced even among today's Arab world."

Syria continues to shed much blood. Forces that incite people and take up arms against the regime remain strong. Ordinary citizens are threatened by them and pressured by the Syrian government. In such circumstances, how helpful can videos that evoke sympathy by using innocent children as hostages be? Would it not be wiser to accurately understand and overcome internal problems?