The Cave

Director Feras Fayyad, who has previously made the documentary Last Men in Aleppo, focuses his lens on a hospital and the female doctor Dr. Amani in The Cave - a war documentary that was rightly nominated for an Oscar for best documentary this year. The footage was shot between 2016 and 2018, and the film is a unique testimony from the city of Ghouta near Damascus, where a network of secret tunnels under the city serves as a residence for the population during the war's inhuman ravages on the surface.

Dr. Amani and her colleagues daily receive severely injured patients and family members in bottomless grief. Deep down in the caves, and with limited medical equipment, her colleagues miraculously manage to keep their spirits up. Despite her incredible efforts, Dr. Amani spends much of her time defending herself against a male chauvinistic segment of society that believes that women – instead of being doctors, or the head of a hospital – should stay at home.

The Cave is beautifully photographed, and an essential film to watch in order to grasp the complexity of the war in Syria.

Red.

Read Ny Tid's review of The Cave here (in Norwegian).

Director

Feras Fayyad (b. 1984) is a Syrian-born director, producer, journalist and cinematographer, now based in Copenhagen. He previously directed several shorts and documentaries, including My Escape (2016) which deals with the refugee crisis. His last film Last Men in Aleppo (2017) won several awards, and like The Cave it was nominated for an Oscar.