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For Sama

Play trailer 2:16 Poster for For Sama Released Jul 26, 2019 1h 35m Documentary War Play Trailer Watchlist
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98% Tomatometer 104 Reviews 92% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
A young woman is followed through five years during the revolution in Aleppo, Syria - through love, marriage and motherhood.
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For Sama

For Sama

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Critics Consensus

As intimate as it is heartbreakingly resonant, For Sama powerfully distills the difficult choices faced by citizens of war-torn regions.

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Critics Reviews

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David Stratton The Australian I have rarely seen a documentary film as powerful as For Sama. The viewer is transported into the Syrian city of Aleppo to experience the very nasty civil war at first hand. Rated: 4.5/5 Feb 8, 2020 Full Review Sandra Hall Sydney Morning Herald [A] dynamic and poignantly personal account of a city's systematic destruction. Rated: 4/5 Feb 5, 2020 Full Review Dorothy Rabinowitz Wall Street Journal They display a striking buoyancy, which the film captures in moving detail -- there is laughter, there is comradeship, there is life even in the face of horror. Nov 15, 2019 Full Review Josh Larsen LarsenOnFilm A shockingly raw combination of first-person reporting and personal video diary... Rated: 3.5/4 Nov 27, 2023 Full Review Juan Pablo Russo EscribiendoCine ... An impactful story about war. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 8/10 Sep 5, 2023 Full Review Jane Freebury The Canberra Times (Australia) An amazing documentary, a sensory and immersive as any war film, filmed and voiced by from the frontline by a young wife and mother. Rated: 5/5 Aug 23, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Jorge S It is a movie that everybody should see. An unusual take at a brutal war from the perspective of a young woman who is also a new mother. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/01/20 Full Review Max G It's just so true, I'm also one of the survivors of that war, Free Syria. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member This Oscar nominee for Best Documentary Feature lacerates hearts with images of children, dead and suffering, blanketed in ash and blood as female director Waad Al-Kateab endeavors to capture on video for her infant daughter the bravery of Aleppo civilians against the Assad regime's cannonade during the Syrian civil war in 2016. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review toby h For Sama is a chilling global call for help. A deeply personal look at how war can destroy everything. Powerfully graphic, this hits home and should be seen by all. No politics, the message is for family, life and freedom. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review William L An incredible documentary. Growing up in the United States, real war has been a borderline alien experience for decades. People see it in film, romantacize it, view it through the lens of a political administration, but there hasn't been a real threat of domestic combat for generations; as a concept, it largely belongs to long-passed generations. Likewise, foreign wars are presented largely as statistics or in broad, remote geopolitical terms, as if those involved were somehow not human, that there suffering somehow is not significant. For Sama forces viewers to confront the reality that terrible conflict is an everyday reality for some, and it does so by demonstrating a universal, heartbreaking humanity within the victims of the conflict. When that child is born in a war-ravaged Aleppo hospital with blue skin and no hint of life, only to be woken by the dedicated efforts of the doctors after harrowing minutes, it is a devastating moment, particularly within the context that it creates. The film is so profound, if I was unaware of the circumstances behind its production I would have immediately assumed that it was a docudrama. I can't recall an objectively better found-footage style documentary; others, like Grey Gardens and Hoop Dreams are shot with an intimate style and follow an evolving storyline, but they are still at their core professional productions made by commercial film crews that set out to document a very particular event that they had previously scouted, vetted, and decided upon. For Sama doesn't feel like that, it has senses of pure violence, danger, and loss that can only originate from a devastating event. A true must-watch. (5/5) Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/11/21 Full Review Audience Member An impressive documentary about an impressive young couple. Amazing how numbed everyone becomes by the constant death and destruction. The absolute state of Aleppo by the time they're leaving is incredible. If ever there was an anti-war film this inadvertently is it. Being on the ground through the siege showcases the truth of war. There's no glamour, it's just pure misery and suffering. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Read all reviews
For Sama

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis A young woman is followed through five years during the revolution in Aleppo, Syria - through love, marriage and motherhood.
Director
Edward Watts, Waad Al-Khateab
Producer
Waad Al-Khateab
Distributor
PBS
Production Co
Frontline, ITN Productions
Genre
Documentary, War
Original Language
Arabic
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 26, 2019, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 16, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA)
$9.3K
Runtime
1h 35m
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