As I have mentioned many times before, documentaries nowadays frequently have better stories than fiction. Almost always, however, the theme is dramatic or moves in that direction. Janay Boulos and Abd Alkader Habak, though, have managed to create a love story out of a documentary while retaining the seriousness of the second main subject here, the continuous war in the Middle East and particularly Syria. The film premiered in Sundance, while we caught in in Thessaloniki.
Birds of War is screening at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
As civil war engulfs Syria and the regime does not allow journalists to record events, fearing witnesses to its atrocities, young journalists begin to fill the gap. Activist photographer Abd Alkader Habak is on the ground in Syria, while Janay works for the BBC in London, where she has lived since leaving Lebanon. Their exchanges are simple in the beginning. Janay requests footage and stories, while Abd delivers, gradually beginning to pitch his own pieces, with Janay pressuring her boss to take them.
As time passes and the communication continues, even under increasingly difficult circumstances as bombs fall all over Aleppo, the two grow closer and something resembling a friendship begins to form, with the correspondents becoming more personal with each other. The situation deteriorates, but the relationship gradually blooms into something romantic, even if it initially remains remote. When Abd manages to reach Istanbul, Janay travels there to meet him, and the two begin a relationship that eventually brings them to London. Meanwhile, the situation in Lebanon worsens while the revolution in Syria finally succeeds.
Using archival material spanning thirteen years of revolution and war, Boulos and Habak, with the help of editor Will Hewitt, manage to carve a love story that is as remarkable as one would expect from any romantic narrative. At the same time, however, the realistic drama captured particularly through Habak’s camera becomes an equally central aspect of the story. The destruction scenes in Syria, appearing one after the other, the explosion in the hospital, and the moment when Habak himself is captured leaving his camera aside in order to save a child highlight a truly hellish situation. In this way, the documentary fulfills one of its ultimate purposes, which is to record reality.
At the same time, the drama does not stop even when the two find relative safety in the United Kingdom. Habak feels intense disappointment for not being in Syria when the victory finally comes, while Boulos is shattered when she learns that her parents in Lebanon may be in danger. Furthermore, the question of whether their families will accept their union, considering the religious differences between the two, looms constantly over the couple, adding even more urgency and emotional weight to the narrative.
The way the personal, social, and historical drama is woven together with romance emerges as the most notable trait of the documentary, a feat that should be attributed equally to the direction and the editing, both of which operate on a very high level. When one adds the fact that the protagonists are highly likable, both individually and together, the result is a work that proves to be a true pleasure to watch.
Ultimately, “Birds of War” emerges as a documentary that could easily appeal to both fans of nonfiction storytelling and viewers who enjoy romantic narratives, in one of the best films of the year.
