Silvered Water. Syria Self-Portrait. Documentary film from the first bloody revolution

Citizen filmmaking: a lens capturing the violence in the deadliest conflict that is happening in Syria from sexual assault, torture, to humiliation.

Cinema for most people is an escape. The use of violent images in this film was to transfigure reality and show shreds of evidence of the horror happening in Syria as one of the film's directors said in the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1R09RRl7MI

"This Story could be lost with TVs, news, and all this political shift with its propaganda, we want to save the story" (Mohammed, 2014).

Personally, for me it was the first time watching such horrific images that reflect the violence and acts that I would otherwise not have known existed in Syria. As an Egyptian, all I knew was that there were many Syrian citizens in Egypt because they had a war, and Egyptians like their restaurants and food (Berger, 2013).

The Egyptian revolution happened in 2011, the same year as the Syrian revolution. The Egyptian government was killing protesters and shutting down the internet frequently because the uprising was spreading through social media (Idris, 2020). I did not see any kind of violence in our revolution, not because there was no violence but because TV channels were not showing any. It was also due to me not being allowed to leave my house, as my cousin was killed by a policeman on the streets while protesting.

The Arab Spring started with a Tunisian who set himself on fire to protest against police harassment. Egypt had similar underlying issues too, just like many neighbouring countries. However, we started the revolution to break free from the regime of President Mubarak (Blakemore, 2019). Then Bahrain, Syria, Libya, and Yemen started their own protests and path to reclaiming their rights. Despite the different reasons for uprisings, which led some to civil war, we were all initially anti-government protesters

"Syria is the land of assassinated filmmakers since anyone with a camera or cell phone becomes an instant target for sniper bullets" (Weissberg 2016).

Images are shown in Silvered Water as Ossama Mohammed voices over phrases such as 'the cinema of God poetry', 'the cinema of realism', and 'the cinema of victim'. It was apparent yet unclear how to connect these phrases with the images shown. There were cinematic moments when the rain covered the windows for a couple of moments, which gave space to breathe and escape the intensity of the film. The film made me research how Syria is now. It has opened my eyes to a world where violence and inhumanity exists.

The film showed "undoctored shots of maimed animals and dead children, men being shot on screen, teenagers tortured in prison and streets flowing with blood" (The Hollywood Reporter, 2014).

Nevertheless, there were moments of hope when the children were happy and jumping. I think the world needs to see how this generation will be affected by Syria's trauma and maybe some could be rescued for a better future (Culbertson and Louay Constant, 2015).

Wiam Simav Bedirxan, a Kurdish woman from Homs, continually refers to the child in the poster as an 'infidel' due to how his vision of his world has been overshadowed by violence and death. The term 'infidel' is taboo in Middle Eastern culture (Fox, 2001). However, the war has led to despondency and a lack of belief in religion.

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Bibliography

Berger, M. (2013). Syrians find refuge in food, bringing cuisine to Egypt. [online] Egypt Independent. Available at: https://www.egyptindependent.com/syrians-find-refuge-food-bringing-cuisine-egypt/ [Accessed 2 Nov. 2021].

Blakemore, E. (2019). What was the Arab Spring and what caused it to happen? [online] Culture. Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/arab-spring-cause [Accessed 18 Nov. 2021].

Culbertson, S. and Louay Constant (2015). Education of Syrian refugee children : managing the crisis in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. Santa Monica, Ca Rand Corporation.

Idris, I. (2020). Responding to popular protests in the MENA region. [online] Available at: https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/20.500.12413/15139/747_Responding_to_Popular_Protests_in_the_MENA_Region.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y [Accessed 22 Nov. 2021].

Fox, J. (2001). Are Middle East Conflicts More Religious? Middle East Quarterly, [online] 8(4). Available at: https://www.meforum.org/135/are-middle-east-conflicts-more-religious [Accessed 7 Oct. 2021].

PremiereScene (2014). Ossama Mohammed - Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait - BFI LFF Award Interview. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1R09RRl7MI [Accessed 10 Oct. 2021].

Reuters Life (2010). Escape to the movies? 1 in 4 people do: poll. Reuters. [online] 5 Mar. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-movies-poll-idUSTRE6243N020100305 [Accessed 10 Nov. 2021].

Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait. (2014). Les Films d’ici; Proaction Film.

The Hollywood Reporter. (2014). “Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait”: Cannes Review. [online] Available at: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/silvered-water-syria-portrait-cannes-704357/.

Weissberg, J. (2014). Cannes Film Review: “Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait.” [online] Variety. Available at: https://variety.com/2014/film/festivals/cannes-film-review-silvered-water-syria-self-portrait-1201183212/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2021].