A harrowing, sometimes hard-to-watch drama set in the confines of a middle-class apartment in war-torn Damascus, In Syria reflects the contemporary horror facing ordinary Syrian civilians living under the daily threat of bombs and bullets. Hiam Abbass gives a complex, mesmerizing performance as Oum Yazan, a tough matriarch caring for her children, wizened father-in-law, an unrelated teen, a housemaid, and a young couple with a newborn baby, while her husband is out somewhere in his capacity as a medic or anti-government insurgent. Writer-director Philippe Van Leeuw masterfully conjures an atmosphere of imminent, dangerous possibilities, where ordinary tasks such as preparing food take on a dark urgency, water is scarce, and knocks on the front door create moments of suspense and dread. When the father of that baby slips out into the street to prepare for his family’s nocturnal escape from the city, he meets a fate that will subsequently be kept secret from his wife (Diamand Bou Abboud), who in turn will experience her own hell before the day is through. Van Leeuw puts the viewer through some tough watching, but the real tragedy of In Syria is that this is just another day of trying to survive for these characters. Recommended. (T. Keogh)
In Syria
Film Movement, 86 min., in Arabic w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $24.99 Volume 33, Issue 5
In Syria
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