Documentaries
“A definitive document of one of the most bloody of modern conflicts,” said the Los Angeles Times of the documentary Cries from Syria (Rialto, Sky 039, Tuesday, 8.30pm).
American director Evgeny Afineevsky is used to both the acclaim and the blood. He was nominated for an Oscar for his 2015 doco Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom.
Much of the footage here was shot by Syrian activists and refugees. Afineevsky covers the period of civil war, starting with 2011’s Arab Spring protests and finishing in 2016, although there’s still no end in sight and so far at
least 400,000 people have died. The film premiered at Sundance 18 months after the body of three-year-old refugee Alan Kurdi washed up in Turkey. It begins with the toddler face-down in the surf. How could it not?
“We are so far from the war, and I think we need to feel this pain,” Afineevsky told NPR.
So, he confronts us, too, with footage of Islamic State executions, torture and
the aftermath of chemicalweapon attacks. Volunteer rescuers with Syria’s White Helmets weep as they pull children from the rubble.
Helen Mirren narrates, but the dignity, suffering and hope of those telling their stories are to the fore.
“I interviewed a lot of orphans,” Afineevsky says. “Despite losing their families, they’re still full of light and hope.”