Syrian screenwriter and Director Ameer Fakher Eldin makes his feature film debut in Venice Film Festival with “Al Garib” (English title: The Stranger). This film takes a deep dive look into the Syrian region, Golan Heights, during the period of a six-day war with Israel resulting in the country occupying two-thirds of the state, leaving the eastern part of the region under control by Syria.
The main focus revolves around an unlicensed doctor named Adnan (Ashraf Barhom) who grew up in Golan Heights, still living in the region despite the hostile war between Israel and Syria over occupation of the state. The film is shot in 4:3 letterbox, giving a sense of the claustrophobic and dark undertones of the Adnan’s pride to remain in the state to earn a living wage and endure the potential consequences of becoming another statistic in the conflicts.
The constant explosions in the film can be seen, far but visible from Adnan’s home, showing how their daily lives are impacted from hearing the potential deaths of innocent families caught in between living where they grew up and being stuck in the middle of a war. Adnan having to travel to the border within Golan Heights to Damascus and seeing Adnan interact with the guards at border patrol gives the audience a glimpse of the uncomfortable atmosphere he faces on a daily basis wherever he goes.
Adnan’s character shows how jaded he has become in his life having feelings of lost hope in the society and his existence to the society. As an unlicensed doctor from Moscow living in an unsettling environment, Adnan’s demeanor seems like he just gave up. Even though he has a wife and kid, he often strays away to drink his troubles away just to survive another day.
Everything Adnan does in his life went sideways in the expectations that he and others were hoping. Adnan failed to get a diploma to become a licensed doctor, he did not get a proper job, and now he does not care about anything, but living on an orchard farm away from his home in Syria, away from anything different from what his father wanted for him to become.
The film paints a relatively complicated situation that pretty much shows that the external environments and the wrong cards were dealt affected Adnan’s psyche and ambition of who he thought he could be. Bogged down from things that were out of control, the film depicts the chronic stress that makes Adnan’s character very disheartening and pitiful to follow.
Several real-world themes are used as devices to help shape the storytelling of Adnan, from the war between Israel and Syria, the feelings of isolation, and the lack of human connection that makes him want to run away from everything. Even with all these negative undertones, there was a glimmer of hope that is also introduced into Adnan’s character, where he found an unconscious man by a border in the war of Syria and decides to rescue him.
This particular turn of hope shows how Adnan was looking for a purpose in his life. Something he feels he could do for another human being, just to get the feeling of his existence in his destiny and what he was supposed to do on this earth. Adnan runs an orchard farm and it was used as a metaphor as to how he could grow a tree and bear the fruits of his labor, yet question whether this victory is a true win, when the tree is growing in the soil of the opposition. This was in reference to how Israel has taken a big part of Golan Heights, where the land of his apple orchard is located.
The sentiment and direction of Al Garib is a sombre one, and unfortunately has affected a great number of families that were caught in between the war. What is interesting to note from the director was that this six-day war was hardly ever recognized in history, to which Ameer felt compelled to write this story around it. The story makes a powerful statement to highlight those that were affected by the war and to give a voice of the audience that has a deep-rooted connection to the history, as well as educating those that may not have been aware of it.
At the end of the day, Al Garib delivers a slow yet effective pace of storytelling, with little dialogue to move the plot forward and more emphasis on the cinematography and a rare glimpse into the world of Golan Heights.