Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
For Sama is a shattering and singular piece of documentary filmmaking. The footage Waad al-Kateab captures from inside besieged Aleppo is breathtaking in its intimacy and courage — cinematography earns a genuine 4 for the sheer audacity and artistry of first-person conflict documentation. The film's conception as a direct address to her infant daughter gives it an emotional and structural novelty that sets it apart from war documentaries. The plot, shaped from years of raw footage, is remarkably coherent and emotionally devastating, earning a 4. Acting is not applicable in the traditional sense — the subjects are living their lives — but the authenticity and emotional range on screen is remarkable, rating above average. The ending, while emotionally resonant, is somewhat inevitable given the historical record and leaves some narrative threads feeling unresolved rather than conclusively powerful, keeping it at 3.