six documentaries to better understand the recent history of Syria

They discuss the rise to power of Bashar al-Assad, the fate of the city of Raqqa, or the abuses of Syrian intelligence. Here are six films available online or on DVD to go back in time and better understand what is currently happening in Syria.

“Raqqa, the shadow of Daesh”, by Hélène Lam Trong

For this documentary, journalist Hélène Lam Trong chose to return to Raqqa, this Syrian city which was the capital of the Islamic State caliphate for three years. In a remarkable story, she shows how the destiny of this city is intimately linked to ours: if the international coalition offensive made it possible to liberate Raqqa, everything is not resolved for the civilians abandoned to their fate, in a city bombarded by air raids, 80% razed…

“Lost Souls”, by Garance Le Caisne and Stéphane Malterre

For two years, at the risk of his life, the photographer César copied onto USB keys the “horror photos” that the Syrian intelligence services forced him to take, those of numerous corpses. Revealed by journalist Garance Le Caisne, his courage makes it possible to document the abuses committed by those in power. An important film about the death machine of the Syrian regime, the repeated violence of state terrorism and the consequences of these crimes for entire generations.

“Russia, the Syrian laboratory”, by Edith Bouvier

The Russian intervention in Syria and the lack of reaction from the West have confirmed Vladimir Putin in his intention to invade Ukraine. Syria specialist Édith Bouvier drew up this astonishing observation in 2022. Seriously injured in Homs in 2012, the journalist signed a remarkable investigation in which she deciphered the expansionist projects of the master of the Kremlin and his desire to challenge the West on the international stage.

On Arte.tv, until January 6.

“Silver water”, by Ossama Mohammed and Wiam Simav Bedirxan

This is the cinema of the victims and that of the executioners put together, but with an unusual perspective, a double perspective. That of the Syrian filmmaker Ossama Mohammed, forced to stay in France after his shattering declarations in 2011, of the young director Wiam Simav Bedirxan, plunged into the heart of the battle, who witnesses, terrified, the siege of her city, Homs. Both of them brought together their strength, their hopes, their moments of distress, to offer us this elegy, which pays homage to the Syrian people and all their anonymous “filmers”, without ever ceasing to question cinema.

And DVD.

“For Sama”, from You are al-Kateab

Awarded the Golden Eye at Cannes for best documentary, the film shocks and haunts those who discover it. It is about a city, Aleppo, bombed for months by the forces of Bashar al-Assad. But also of a people, who we follow through a family: the director, Waad al-Kateab, her husband Hamza, an emergency doctor, and their baby, little Sama, born in this chaos. It is, beyond this family, the story of the inhabitants literally taken hostage in their own city, and torn between the desire to resist and the desire to flee. Heartbreaking and revolting.

A VOD and a DVD.