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a tragic resonance with Ukraine

FRANCE 5 – SUNDAY MARCH 6 AT 8:55 P.M. – DOCUMENTARY

While the news is dominated by the Russian offensive in Ukraine, the war in Syria, which began in 2011, now seems very far away, even forgotten. However, this documentary, made in 2021 by Kamal Redouani, could not have had more resonance, Russia having played a key role, both political and military, in the Syrian conflict, which claimed 500,000 victims and millions of refugees, and in the rescue of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime.

The former RFI journalist, already author of the very noticed French jihadists, the part of the monster in 2019, made the very successful choice here to focus on four Syrian women whose lives changed dramatically during the popular uprising against the tyranny of the Assad family, which has reigned over the country for forty years. Through the destiny of Khaïti, Loubna, Marwa and Mouna, the story of a revolution that began with songs, great dreams of freedom and social justice, found itself confronted by a machine of ruthless repression, to end up bogged down in the emergence of the Islamic State (IS) organization.

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To “surrender” or to be “starved”

In the battle against the dictatorship, and then against obscurantism, women were at the forefront, having gone out of their way to make their demands heard and to save their country. They are also the ones who paid the highest price. Because, as one of the female protagonists of the film points out, testifying with a covered face, when a man comes out of prison, “In the eyes of the Syrians, he is a hero. A woman is a whore”.

Loubna, a fashion designer at the start of the revolution, saw the children of Ghouta, located in the suburbs of Damascus, die of suffocation under the chemical attack perpetrated by Bashar Al-Assad. Marwa, just 14 at the start of the uprising, became a revolutionary ” step by step “. She experienced the state of siege in the city of Aleppo. Just like Khaïti, a medical student at the time, who lost her brother in the war. “Either you have to surrender or you’re starving. Either way, you’re humiliated.” says the young woman of her experience in Aleppo. Words that make people shudder today, as the anxiety of seeing the Russian army besieging Kiev hangs over people’s minds.

Finally, there is the figure of Mouna through which the viewer discovers the transformation of Syria after the rise of IS. This courageous young Syrian woman dares to protest, from 2014, against the fighters of this force who kidnap the dignitaries of her city, Rakka, to establish her authority. Quickly, like the other protagonists of the film, she will have to flee Syria so as not to fall into the hands of the jihadists.

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