"In Syria" - Bombing all around the place! - 7/10

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“In Syriated”, or “In Syria” as the international version is a movie directed by Philippe VAN LEEUW staring Diamand ABOU ABBOUD as Halimeh and Hiam ABBAS as Oum Yazan. All of Oum Yazan’s family including her children, father in law, their maid Delhani, and Karim her daughter’s friend Yara are living together in the same house. Their upstairs neighbors Samir, Halimeh and their baby are living with them after the destruction of their house. All of them are living in Syria under the circumstances of war, at the beginning of the movie Samir is shot by a sniper in the downstairs parking lot and is portrayed dead. During the whole movie one could see the poor circumstances that these people are living in, bombing all around the place, no water, absence of cellphone line and other miserable conditions. At some point of the movie, Halimeh is put in tough situation where she must stand out and protect the whole family. The movie ends in a vague way leaving it to the audience to imagine the end… Or maybe is it because the war in Syria is still on and no one knows what might happen. This movie represents only the family of Oum Yazan but many other families in Syria are facing the same fate and the same circumstances of poorness and lack of daily life needs. All the actors played very significant roles especially Halimeh, Oum Yazan and Delhani… The two very minor problems about this movie is that at some point the Lebanese actors couldn’t but use their Lebanese accent and that the whole movie is shot only in 2 or 3 locations, all of them are in the house. But nevertheless, this movie is a one to watch!

Reviewed by Jhonny Kidess