Educational Media Reviews Online

Camels and people walk at night, the light of the camera casts shadows in the sand. It is “In that instant when you cross this imaginary line you become a refugee and your life is in the hands of others.” Fragments of news reports contextualize the Arab Spring and how it led to Bashar al-Assad’s brutal, dictatorial reign of Syria, his terrorizing of the people, and civil war. The lucky ones, the ones who weren’t killed and/or displaced, sought and continue to seek refuge in neighboring countries, in Europe, and in America. Salam Neighbor welcomes the viewer into its captivating and affecting portrait of people traumatized by war, insurgency, ISIS, and exile, forced to walk away from their beloved country to stay alive and start their lives over.

Zach Ingrasci and Chris Temple, whose previous film Living on One Dollar (2013) documented their challenge of doing that in rural Guatemala, in their new film address the “largest refugee crisis since World War II”. Nearly five million Syrians have left their country in the last five years. With Jordan’s approval, the United Nations gave the young filmmakers a tent inside the Za’tari Refugee Camp in Mafraq, Jordan, and the film tells their story of being embedded there. Zach and Chris are exuberant, inquisitive, empathetic, engaging, and talented co-directors, producers, and narrators.

The refugees prove to be resourceful and resilient. Zach and Chris befriend the Syrians young and old, men and women. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) helps run the camp, and its employees are interviewed. Kilian, a camp manager, notes that while “we were building a camp; they were building a city” and an economy. Despite water shortages and overloaded sewer systems, more than 3,000 businesses have been started. He says the camp “needs support from city planners, but the world hasn’t stepped up to support it.” Another valuable resource, members of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), help heal psychological wounds of the most vulnerable, the “victims of war.”

Ismail was studying in Damascus to be a French teacher. He vowed he would never leave Syria, but then the bombing began. Leaving was fraught. He said “if the regime sees you, they might shoot you, so we gave the babies sleeping pills so they wouldn’t cry. We had to just walk, not even breathe. Without my faith in God I would have committed suicide – the difficulty of life has made us forget about our feelings…”

Young Abdel Raouf talks about wanting to be a doctor to help the injured people. He left Syria when he was in 3rd grade, but doesn’t want to go to school till he’s back home. He shows Zach and Chris his drawings documenting the day a bomb hit his school. They spend a lot of time with him and ultimately convince him to go to the makeshift camp school. They note that only half of refugee kids are getting an education. Abu, Raouf’s dad, says he loved school until he was traumatized. Zach says a ten year-old should never have to go through that.

A woman who was a nurse in Syria started making hair pieces to hold the hijab in place – she thinks of it as a crown that queens and princesses used to wear. She’s selling 200 pieces a month. Like many other refugees, she and her family live outside the camp where life is more normal and public schools are accessible. King Abdullah allows kids to go to Jordan schools after Jordanian kids are done for the day. The refugees appreciate this, but many express a longing for home and for their country to have peace.

The crisp and artful cinematography by Sean Kusanagi and the haunting, pulsating, and highly atmospheric original score by W.G. Snuffy Walden and A. Patrick Rose combine to create an immersive and aesthetically satisfying viewing experience. Chris and Zach’s hearts are open; they explode with empathy, laughter, and genuine emotion. Their ebullient curiosity, laughter, and compassion permeate, and their aims are true. This compelling, timely, and deeply humanistic film is a sympathetic portrait of Syrian refugees in flux, people who live in the perilous limbo that occurs when an “old world dies before a new one has been born.”