Rent For Sama (2019)

Extraordinary window into the horrors of civil war - For Sama review by TE

The first review on here, by "PV" is simply ignorant.

At no point in 'For Sama' is there any endorsement of Islamic fundamentalism in general or of ISIL in particular. We see the beginnings of the opposition to the Assad regime during the Arab Spring. ISIL did not hi-jack the freedom movement in Aleppo: they were present as one of many anti-Assad groups but chose to leave early on in order to help set up their disastrous caliphate.

It's a shame that such an excellent documentary should be the subject of such an ignorant attack by PV.

This is above all else a timeless document of humane values fighting to survive in the most extreme conditions of inhumanity. It puts the focus where it should be, on the children irreparably damaged by war and sectarian violence.

The honest self-questioning by Waad al-Kateab gives the film an ongoing resonance.

A powerful film that will linger in your memory - For Sama review by Darius

A passionate, powerful, heart-breaking documentary that doesn't pull its punches. It conveys in horrible detail the anguish faced by those who chose to stay behind in Aleppo and endure constant bombardment (cluster bombs, barrel bombs etc etc) from Assad's regime and his Russian allies. You constantly see helicopters lurking overhead, knowing they will be dropping some horrible explosive device onto the innocent men, women and children below (clearly no ground-air defence whatsoever) but not knowing onto whose apartment/hospital it will fall. You learn how the regime deliberately targeted hospitals to reduce morale and that the only reason for the survival of the second hospital created by the director's doctor husband was that it was makeshift and appeared on no map. You see the incredible courage of those who stayed behind - particularly of the director and her husband - and feel shame at the inaction of our government and others in responding to these atrocities. A film that you are unlikely ever to forget - and neither should you.

Biased and Flawed Handheld Video of the Syrian War - For Sama review by PV

I would have given this film 4 stars - because it is remarkable, filmed live during the war in Syria in Aleppo.

However, I was angered by the utter bias. The narrator makes the claim the Islamists who supposedly highjacked the revolution (though many started the uprising) were better then the regime. OH REALLY? I suggest Googling Islamic State and see what they did in the places they ruled which included executing people, chucking gays off buildings to kill them, crucifying people and worse. Palmyra is where the Islamofascist Islamic State smashed up old ruins and statues because Islamists believe in doing that - as they did in Afghanistan with the Buddhas and as Saudi Arabian regime destroys all old tombs of Islam.

Fact is, we in the West should have negotiated with Assad - not supported Islamists over there who are cut from the same cloth as the Islamist terrorists who kill people over here and in the West! These are not modern democratic people. The cities which have been ruined like Homs and Aleppo are like that because of Islamist uprisings.

So this is not like people overthrowing a regime as with the USSR and replacing it with liberal democracy. Yes, Assad is a dictator but arguably better than Islamic State - and chaos as in Syria and Libya is the worst of all worlds. Egypt has rejected Islamism.

So that bias spoils this film, which is shocking in places.

It could have been so much better, but no-one who believes in modern liberal democracy can possibly support Islamist uprisings.