Under the Sky of Damascus: Violence against women lurks everywhere

“In feature films the director is God; in documentary films, God is the director,” once said Alfred Hitchcock, and rightfully so.

In Heba Khaled, Talal Derki and Ali Wajeeh’s documentary Under the Sky of Damascus such a claim is disgracefully true.

Of course, most of the documentaries we watch are driven by real events, but in this specific case something totally unexpected occurs and it doesn’t just shake up the crew’s production plans, but also adds a gigantic layer of meaning to the whole narrative. A Danish-German-American-Syrian co-production, Under the Sky of Damascus, was world-premiered in the Panorama Strand of this year’s Berlin International Film Festival (16-26 February).

"Initially planned as a non-fiction feature driven by commendable intents and solid core ideas, Under the Sky of Damascus is a clear example of how skilled documentarians always manage to transform real-life happenings – in this case, something truly horrible – into powerful weapons"

Shot between August 2020 and December 2021 and mainly set in Damascus, the feature zooms in on a tight-knit group of five young Syrian women who embark upon a radical project: producing a play that lays bare the culture of misogyny and sexual abuse that has blighted too many lives in their country over the decades.

Throughout the film, we will get acquainted with these brave young women – Farah Al Dbyaat, Eliana Saad, Inana Rashed, Souhir Saed and Grace Al Ahmar – as well as with Sabah Al-Salem, a 65-year-old actress who disappeared from the public eye in the early 2000s after she refused to sleep with a high-ranking officer who assaulted her and took advantage of his position to frame her on drug trafficking charges.

Predictably, the man managed to bribe a judge to mete out a harsh sentence. One of the first subjects to be involved in this documentary, Sabah strongly encourages these young women’s efforts.

Interestingly, Farah, Eliana, Inana, Souhir and Grace had studied acting together in Damascus and befriended each other. They are quite ideal subjects for a doc of this kind, as their cultural, religious and family backgrounds are diverse enough – for example, one of them comes from a mixed religious background, whilst the others belong to the Alawi, Shia or Christian minorities.

After setting up their own theatre company, the five women decide to rent an abandoned, crumbling house in the old section of Damascus. They clean it up and use it as their own rehearsing space.

To write and further develop their play, they start collecting and recording testimonies from a wide range of subjects, including factory workers, stay-at-home mothers and psychiatric patients.

Despite these women’s different socioeconomic positions, their stories resemble each other. They all are tragic tales of abuse, blackmail and imprisonment, which see fathers, brothers, husbands, employers and public officials keeping them trapped and impeding them to access lawyers, medical treatments and psychological support.

Up to this point, Under the Sky of Damascus is a documentary – like many others – pursuing a just cause and boasting a rather traditional structure, made up of observational sequences and controlled interviews. Thus, the audience may expect the play to be staged – or censored if things go awry – and see what happens next.

However, as one of the subjects later reminds us, “harassment is a form of authority” in Syria. Sadly, such a form of authority can be much closer and more widespread than expected.

The writing of the play proceeds at a steady pace and the group’s rehearsals continue until Eliana suddenly leaves a voicemail announcing she will drop out of the project. A phone conversation with her friends follows, but Eliana’s tone of voice is evasive and the reasons for her decision remain unclear.

A few days later, Eliana reveals to Heba that an important male member of the production team has sexually harassed her and threatened her into silence. And, apparently, she has not been the only victim.

The failure to protect these women has obviously huge consequences on everyone’s lives and on the play itself, resulting in a three-month hiatus and a serious rethinking of the meaning of the picture itself.

Initially planned as a non-fiction feature driven by commendable intents and solid core ideas, Under the Sky of Damascus is a clear example of how skilled documentarians always manage to transform real-life happenings – in this case, something truly horrible – into powerful weapons. A strong sense of anxiety and hopelessness accompanies the whole viewing experience, keeping us hooked and puzzled, especially during the picture’s second half.

Ultimately, the directing trio’s core message emerges loud and clear. Violence against women – in Syria and worldwide – lurks everywhere, even among our closest, most trusted circles.

Davide Abbatescianni is an Italian Film Critic and Journalist based in Rome

Follow him on Twitter: @dabbatescianni