Of Fathers and Sons

Berlin-based filmmaker Talal Derki returned to his Syrian homeland where he posed as a war photographer and gained the trust of a radical Islamist family who he filmed over a two-year period. Of Fathers and Sons—nominated for this year’s Best Documentary Feature—is a powerful and often shocking portrait of fortysomething patriarch Abu Osama, a member of the Al Qaeda-affiliated Al Nusra Front, and two of his sons: 12-year-old Osama and his younger brother Ayman. Derki adopts a detached, non-judgmental, mostly cinema vérité approach, filming Abu in a makeshift sniper perch as he shoots (off-camera) someone on a motorbike (the victim is apparently dragged off before Abu can deliver a killshot), and in another scene captures Abu playing an endearing game of peek-a-boo with the toddler in the family. But Derki spends most of his time on the two boys, who clearly love their father yet are brought up in an atmosphere of religious hate and misogyny. Osama, who looks like a very young Sean Penn, jokes with other kids (and gets in a fight), helps make soda bottle bombs, and cries when his father is badly injured. As time goes on, viewers see Osama preparing to join Al Nusra Front: donning camo fatigues and a ski mask, performing war exercises (while an instructor shoots live rounds around the kids), and eventually learning to fire a gun himself. Ayman, on the other hand, is more interested in pursuing his studies in school. Near the end of the film, Osama and friends splash about in a makeshift pool—a particularly poignant scene, given that childhood is nearly over for these young males, who will soon be killing and dying in the senseless name of jihad. A deeply disturbing and heartbreaking film about the terrible legacy of hate being handed down over generations, this is recommended. (R. Pitman)