A film by Philippe Van Leeuw. In ara­bic with ger­man subtitles.

Energetic Oum Yazan is try­ing despera­te­ly to keep tog­e­ther her fami­ly life whilst out­side a war is raging. The fami­ly sits tog­e­ther around a lar­ge table at mid­day, ever­yo­ne try­ing to make them­sel­ves heard abo­ve the can­no­na­de of bombs and machi­ne gun fire. There is hard­ly any water and every trip out­side the door spells dan­ger on account of the sni­pers on the roof­tops abo­ve. While Grandfather plays with his litt­le grand­child, the oldest daugh­ter flirts with her boy­fri­end in her room. Next door a young cou­ple with a baby are plan­ning their escape. Up abo­ve, threa­tening noi­ses can be heard. Who’s that kno­cking at the door? Could it be Oum Yazan’s hus­band who­se return she has been anxious­ly awai­ting, or are the­re stran­ge men out­side, loo­king for valu­ables? Just a few shots are neces­sa­ry to draw the view­er into the per­ma­nent sta­te of emer­gen­cy that is war. The apart­ment that was once a fami­li­ar home has now beco­me a pri­son. Philippe Van Leeuw’s huis clos descri­bes peo­p­le in an extre­me situa­ti­on that gives rise to extre­me beha­viour. Every decis­i­on could be a mat­ter of life or death: is it moral­ly accep­ta­ble to sacri­fice one mem­ber of the fami­ly to gua­ran­tee the sur­vi­val of the others?

Insyriated
Belgien, 2017, 85 Min., arab. OmU
Regie & Buch: Philippe Van Leeuw
Kamera: Virginie Surdej
Schnitt: Gladys Joujou
Mit Hiam Abbass, Diamand Bou Abboud, Juliette Navis