Tense and sincere but slightly one-note Syrian war drama from Philippe Van Leeuw.
Ignore the awful title, this is a taut drama that puts a human face on Syria’s humanitarian crisis. No cheap thrills or easy answers here, but plenty of gut-churning drama.
Belgian filmmaker Philippe Van Leeuw creates a palpable dread at the daily horrors confronting those unlucky enough to caught up in a war zone, but the single location and over-reliance on melodrama as the film progresses rob it of the some of the profundity for which it’s clearly striving.
It risks becoming just another generalised film about the pity and squalor of war as experienced on the domestic front.
This brutally tough but absorbing film is set in a Damascus apartment in which a family with a tragic secret have barricaded themselves.
A harrowing watch with an intense final scene.
An intense, claustrophobic tale of the human costs of an impossible conflict.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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