SummaryFor Sama is both an intimate and epic journey into the female experience of war. 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 ... Read More
Directed By:Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts
For Sama
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
89
User score
Generally Favorable
7.6
My Score
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Metascore
Universal Acclaim
100% Positive
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Sep 12, 2019
100
Sifting six years’ worth of rubble, al-Kateab turns up beauty and one earthly miracle to set alongside the horrors, but horrors there are.
Jul 25, 2019
100
Simple in concept and shattering in execution, blending hard-headed reportage with unguarded personal testimony, it’s you-are-there cinema of the most literal order.
User score
Generally Favorable
80% Positive
28 Ratings
28 Ratings
11% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
9% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
Oct 18, 2020
10
A poignant testimony to the carnage of Assad helped by the Russians on martyred Aleppo. Often unsustainable, but essential.
Feb 4, 2020
10
The best documentary I ever saw, intimate, eye-opening and a very emotional journey. Thank you Waad al-Kateab.
Mar 16, 2019
100
For Sama will be the single most heart-wrenchingly honest film you have ever seen. No amount of acting, elite accolades or story manipulation will ever compare to the genuine truth captured by a woman with a camera in Syria. It is truly an honor and a privilege to see this film.
Jul 25, 2019
90
The activists of this film, including al-Kateab herself, don’t speak in the language of philosophers or politicians. Their quotidian aspirations — to build a garden, to send their children safely to school — demonstrate the brutality of the government’s response, but they also invite viewers to picture themselves in the shoes of these modest political dissidents.
Jul 26, 2019
83
For Sama isn’t a nightmare with pockets of joy so much as it’s a collective dream that’s playing out under a cloud of impenetrable darkness.
Jul 26, 2019
80
For Sama doesn’t feel like raw footage — it has been carefully shaped, with a bit of movie-ish suspense during the final hours, when the last of the families in East Aleppo were told they could surrender to the regime but were fired on anyway. The ending is a little fancy for my taste — a montage of the good times and an overhead shot of Waad and her baby walking through the rubble.
Nov 6, 2019
75
For Sama is a before-and-after portrait, both literally and figuratively. What begins as a brash, bold, giddily optimistic love story devolves into something far darker, as viewers begin to question why al-Khateab is willing to endanger her child in the name of doomed principles.
May 31, 2020
9
Un retrato de la realidad, nos muestra la crudeza de los conflictos humanos de una forma cautivadora.
Apr 28, 2020
8
This documentary about a journalist, a doctor, and their daughter in Aleppo in 2016 is not for the feint of heart. Obviously. The events that unfold around this family are undoubtedly some of the hardest to watch I have ever seen and probably will ever see. This is in part due to the focus on innocent children effected by the war shown in often gruesome, uncensored, horrible detail. I think it's important that it not be censored. These are real people begging for help and receiving none. Their stories and images need to be seen. I just think a bit more warning could have been given at the start of the film. The other aspect of this doc that made it hard to watch was my complete frustration with the documentarian for staying so long in a war zone being bombed nearly constantly with her toddler daughter when she had an opportunity to leave her daughter with her parents in a safer place. She addresses this issue and makes an argument for her choices, but she didn't come remotely close to convincing me. This doc wont tell you much about the conflict, in all of its confusing minutia, but it will tell you about the people. The horrors of war are on full display here. It's on Amazon Prime now.
Feb 11, 2020
8
For the heinous realities we know of this world and for those we can't do nothing.
Oct 28, 2023
7
For Sama hits differently when you are a nurse, since a good number of scenes here are from hospitals. It portrays a cruel reality. Also, the 2023 context between Ishmael and Hamas makes this movie extremely current. My only critique is the fact that some important information is only revealed when you post-research about it. The movie won't provide you with certain answers. Without them, there are some logical script holes that may disconnect you.
Production Company:
- Channel 4 News
- Channel 4
- Frontline
- ITN Productions
- PBS Distribution
- WGBH
Release Date:Jul 26, 2019
Duration:1 h 40 m
Rating:TV-PG
Tagline:Resistance. Love.
Website:
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
British Independent Film Awards
• 4 Wins & 5 Nominations
Royal Television Society, UK
• 3 Wins & 4 Nominations
