Step by Step

Ten years before filmmaker Ossama Mohammed received international recognition with Stars in Broad Daylight (1988), he captured the dire state of Syria in this short documentary. The film starts off hopefully enough, with different village children talking about their dream jobs. But it soon becomes clear that such innocent candor will be short-lived. Through the film’s experimental, fragmented style, reminiscent of the French New Wave, harsh reality bubbles ever closer to the surface.

The serene congeniality of the countryside turns out to be strict, choking and violent. The effects of this are clearly demonstrated as a soldier talks about his childhood, in between the impressions of village life. Freedom and innocence have made way for a disturbing, fanatical loyalty to the state.

Is this a reflection of the foundations of Syrian society? If it is, what has happened to the children we saw at the film’s opening? In hindsight, this impression of Syrian society in 1978 seems to be a prescient harbinger of a crisis to come.