Trending
    • INVISIBLE BEAUTY, an interview with Frédéric Tcheng
    • CWB Jury & nominees for MOZAIK Bridging The Borders Award at 2023 Lucas FF
    • Jasmin Mozaffari’s short film ‘Motherland, wins TIFF award
    • Poor Thing, Wins Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival
    • Toronto Film Festival 2023
    • Iranian Influential Women: Rakhshan Bani-Etemad
    • Sundance Film Festival Asia
    • Enea, review
    Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Cinema Without Borders
    • Home
    • Feature Story
    • News
    • Conversations
    • Festivals
    • Cinema Tech
    • Film Reviews
    • CinéEqual
    • Other Arts
    • Archives
    Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Cinema Without Borders
    You are at:Home»Film Reviews»SALAM NEIGHBOR

    SALAM NEIGHBOR

    0
    By Wyatt Phillips on 02/24/2016 Film Reviews

    Darkness clouds the path. Babies and young children are passed from person to person over treacherous terrain. Specs of light on distant horizons leave the hundreds of scurrying feet with only minor bearings as they flee their warring homeland. We begin the documentary Salam Neighbor with a montage of families emigrating Syria in secret. With this intro, lit only by flashlight and shot handheld, directors Zach Ingrasci and Chris Temple find a way to pull you into the human drama inside the refugee crisis from the get-go. Then through a series of new blurbs, the filmmakers connect themselves to the conflict and explain the goal of Salam Neighbor: to move onto a Syrian refugee camp and discover what the day-to-day life is like for the people who live there.

    The camp, Za’atari, is located in Jordan and is only seven miles from Syria. Sounds of warring factions and bombs echo over the boarder constantly. Over 70,000 refugees live inside. The site is strewn with trailers and tents, all colored in an identical tan. At first, it’s a community that would seem easy to get lost in, but thanks to the spurts of graffiti and clothes there is human warmth felt across the otherwise dull camp. Within the first day at the refugee camp, the security force informs the directors it is unsafe to stay through the night. To rectify the situation, the crew must leave during the night to stay in the bordering town of Mafraq. Despite these warnings of violence early on, no aggression is ever shown to the filmmakers. In fact, quite the opposite, from day one the refugees are welcoming and willing to share their experience. They even set up the crew’s entire tent for them, in addition to sharing their food and games.

    Though never really glimpsing what night is like on the camp, the filmmakers do a noble job of humanizing people within the crisis that might have before just been seen as statistics. A connection forms over the course of the film with numerous refugees whose perseverance stand out. One young boy named Raouf was inside a school in Syria during a bombing. Traumatized, he’s been unable to attend any school since. However, something you might not have expected, at the camp there are refugees taking this chance to help their countrymen affected by war. And kids, like Raouf, are being taught to feel safe and learn again.

    Insights are made throughout the documentary into the good refugees do for their own. It becomes a testament to the gap that is between public perception and the reality of the Syrian’s situation. Most of the global population that might feel Syrians are looking for a handout, but watch this film and find a people working to take their war-torn lives into their own hands.

    Salam Neighbor gives a name and a face to the Syrian refugee crisis, filling you with a more personal understanding of the struggle. Hopefully, when this documentary reaches a wider audience, it can do some good in helping to illustrate common human bond of endurance through disaster that is shared between all communities around the world.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Wyatt Phillips

    Daniel Wyatt Phillips is a screenwriter, director, illustrator, and reviewer born and raised in Chicago, IL, he enjoys long walks on the beach, peperoni pizza, and worshiping at the shrine of Stanley Kubrick. Currently transplanted to Los Angeles to pursue a career in writing and directing. To check out his range of work, visit: https://vimeo.com/dwpfilm

    Related Posts

    Enea, review

    Finally Dawn, Review

    Between Two Worlds, Review

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.



    Most donations are tax deductible.
    Latest Stories
    09/29/2023

    INVISIBLE BEAUTY, an interview with Frédéric Tcheng

    09/27/2023

    CWB Jury & nominees for MOZAIK Bridging The Borders Award at 2023 Lucas FF

    09/19/2023

    Jasmin Mozaffari’s short film ‘Motherland, wins TIFF award

    09/10/2023

    Poor Thing, Wins Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival

    Bridging The Border Award

    At a time when physical, religious, racial, cultural, and economic borders divide the population of our planet, efforts to bridge those borders should be appreciated. In that spirit, Cinema Without Borders presents Bridging the Borders Award to the films that are most successful in bridging and …Read More

     

    I, Immigrant, International Film Festival
    CineEqual

    CinéEqual represents filmmakers, institutions, and community members with a focus on social justice cinema. As an integrated unit of CWB, it promotes a diverse, inclusive, and equitable democratic society that values the worth of all humans…Read More

     

    About
    About

    Cinema Without Borders is a meeting place of independent cinema. Based in Los Angeles, CWB puts the spotlight on rising talent around the globe to achieve its mission, which is to serve and strengthen communities of filmmakers and film students across real and virtual borders.

    Copyright Cinema Without Borders@2018

    Popular Posts
    01/02/2001

    Cinecon 46-The 46th edition of the Classic Film Festival

    10/09/2006

    An Interview with Jonathan Wolf, Managing Director of AFM

    10/11/2006

    Film & TV production in Afghanistan

    Article Photos
    NasserFarhoudiWP
    SiggrpphSlider
    FundingCoverImage
    6-RADUSlider
    Nouredin-WP-Slider
    NOHOFestival-WP-Slider
    MiamiFF-WP-Slider
    MarkTamez-WP-Slider
    LouderThanBombs-WP-Slider
    HP-Rick-WP-Slider
    HP-Bridging-2-WP-Slider
    HP-Bridging-1-WP-Slider
    Contacts & Credits

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.