ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

war crimes

The Cave – Hope in a Dark Place

by Leave a Comment

“Is God really watching?”

Nominated for Best Documentary Feature, The Cave takes us into the darkest of world to show us the smallest light of hope. Director Feras Fayyad received a previous Oscar nomination for his film Last Men in Aleppo. Again we see the destruction that has been happening in Syria and the bravery of some who seek to save others in spite of the risk to their own lives.

Al Ghouta, Syria – Dr. Amani (center) and Dr Alaa (right) in the operating room. (National Geographic)

Between 2013 and 2018, Al Ghouta, Syria was besieged by government and Russian forces. Gas attacks, frequent bombings, lack of food and supplies, created a city of rubble and despair filled with 400,000 people who now have no way out. A small group of doctors, led by Dr. Amani Ballour and Dr. Salim Namour, seeks to tend to the seriously injured in an underground hospital known as The Cave. Dr. Amani serves as the manager of the hospital, as well as continuing her work as a pediatrician, caring for the many children who have been injured in the bombings, and are suffering malnutrition from the lack of food.

The film immerses us into this subterranean world as we follow Dr. Amani. There are times of chaos and pain. There are quiet times when she and another woman can take part in a bit of girl talk about makeup. There are small celebrations, as for Dr. Amani’s 30th birthday which is feted with popcorn that Dr. Salim imagines as pizza with extra cheese. But throughout we see the suffering of the populace that has been under attack for five years. We see the doctors as they face feelings of helplessness. We see the fear that these doctors live with even as they strive to save others.

Al Ghouta, Syria – Dr Amani covers her ears during nearby bombings. (National Geographic)

There is no commentary to accompany the film. It suffers a bit by not giving viewers any context for the conflict or the geopolitical issues that allows such savagery to take place. But even without such explanations we realize that we are watching people who are acting heroically in a dangerous situation. Fayyad sets them (as he did with the White Helmets in Last Men in Aleppo) as lights of hope in a world that seems hopeless.

By focusing on Dr. Amani, this film also has a bit of a feminist bent. It only comes up once in the film, but Syrian society frowns on women working, especially in authority. But in this film we see not only Dr. Amani, but other women (especially Dr. Alaa and nurse Samaher) doing important work and saving lives of many people.

Al Ghouta, Syria – Children recovering with oxygen after a chemical attack. (National Geographic)

The film opens and closes with brief, poetic voice overs by Dr. Amani. They speak of light and hope. One of the lines the struck me was “I wonder if there is any space for justice.” For me this may be the key question that gnaws at me watching this. The UN has declared the siege of Al Ghouta as a war crime against humanity. But will there ever be justice? The film never asks, but I don’t know how viewers cannot ask how the world allows this to go on. Even when the world knows that the government has broken international law by using chemical weapons against its own people, nothing has been done.

National Geographic, who is the distributor for the film, offers some ways to take action at their website for the film. (The film can be screened on the National Geographic app.) I especially recommend reading Dr. Amani’s own account that is linked to there, and to consider signing the petition calling for the world to acknowledge what is happening and act.

Al Ghouta, Syria – Dr Amani amongst rubble. (National Geographic)

Photos courtesy of National Geographic

The Heart of Nuba – A Christian Doctor Lives the Gospel

by Leave a Comment

What kind of man gives up a life of privilege and comfort to live in a war zone half a world away from his family because the people there need a doctor? The Heart of Nuba is the story of American doctor, Dr. Tom Catena, who works in Mother of Mary Hospital in Sudan, among the Nuba Mountains. It is the only hospital for hundreds of miles, and he is the only doctor. The tagline for the film is: “One doctor. One Hospital. One million patients.”

It is not just that this is a very remote region where typical medical care would be needed. This is a war zone. The president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir (who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes) bombs his own people, targeting innocent people and children. Many of those that Dr. Tom cares for are those severely wounded in such attacks. But he also must deal with leprosy, a small child with kidney cancer, the measles (because the government will not allow vaccines to be brought it), and so much else that grows out of lives of poverty.

Dr. Tom was an Ivy Leaguer who studied engineering, but after graduation chose medical school instead. He loved the idea of being a community doctor—one who comes and becomes a part of the community. He has done that in the extreme by choosing to follow his faith and serving in a Catholic hospital as a kind of missionary.

His faith is a key part of his understanding of what he is doing. We see his early morning trips to the church to pray the rosary. And he reflects upon Jesus telling a man who wanted eternal life to sell all he had and come and follow. Dr. Tom says he tries to live that as best he can. And his life in Sudan is certainly Spartan. While this is indeed an extreme lifestyle, it is challenging to think of how hard that teaching by Jesus was. After all, the questioner went away very sad because of his wealth (and by implication, his attachment to that wealth).

The film is roughly equal parts of inspiration based in the commitment and work that Dr. Tom is doing, and of documenting the atrocities that are taking place in this region. It is not unusual for a panic to begin at the sound of an airplane. The film even records a bombing near the hospital compound itself, immediately behind Dr. Tom’s quarters. This documenting of the war going on here is designed to show us the suffering that doesn’t make our news. It never really delves into why these evil acts fly so far below the media radar, but it calls on us to be more mindful of what is going on in the world.