‘Rad al-Qada’a’ Movie by Najdat Anzour Depicts National Unity against Terrorism

Renowned Syrian Director Najdat Anzour has said that his new movie ‘Rad al-Qada’a’ [ward off fate] depicts the Syrians’ national unity and the removal of terrorists’ illusions.

Speaking to the official news agency (SANA) after the official premier of the movie in Damascus Opera House on Friday, Anzour clarified that the language of the movie is simple and it is based on real stories.

He referred to the role of cinema in depicting the reality of events taking place in Syria.

 “Syrian cinema must be popular and there should be continuous work that could be called ‘art of resistance’ to show real events in the country,” the director said, calling for filmmakers to produce more than one work on Aleppo central prison as one work cannot depict thousands of heroic acts of Syrian forces.

On her part, scenarist Diana Kamaleddin said that the movie shows how the defenders of Aleppo central prison stood united as one family to confront terrorists’ siege.

“The war on Syria is an open wound and it will be easy to write more about events after the end of the war,” she added.

300 testimonies

More than 300 testimonies of persons, who were inside the prison, were collected to make the movie which is a cultural product confronting extremist Takfiri thinking, according to Damascus-based al-Watan newspaper.

The paper reported Sunday that the film shows how prisoners and policemen [internal security forces] stood united against terrorists to defend the prison.

The prisoners carried guns to defend the prison and after the end of clashes with gunmen they handed over the guns. They defended the prison because they had realized that the gunmen, who claimed that they want to free them,  were firing phosphorus shells on them while policemen were defending them.

The clashes coincided with the story of a mother who asked for the hand of a girl for marriage to her son besieged in the prison. The mother was trying to lift her son’s morale.

Living martyr

The living martyr, Hatem Arab, was one of the heroes, who defended the prison before he became paraplegic as a result of terror mortar attack on the prison. He also lost his family’s members in a massacre perpetrated by terrorists in al-Zara town in Homs countryside.

This hero attended the official premier and he was greeted warmly by Interior and Culture Ministers, who also were present at the premier. 

About 10 actresses and actors perform in the two-hour movie to be screened twice daily in Damascus Opera House and al-Kindi Cinema as of the beginning of next month.

In May 2014, Syrian army units broke the terrorists’ year-long siege of Aleppo prison.

Here is link of video showing the movie’s shooting: https://youtu.be/LUbhDQC40kE

Basma Qaddour