Mediha
Hasan Oswald’s inspiring portrait of a courageous Yazidi girl is simply one of the best documentaries of the year.
Image courtesy of Together Films.
One of the very best documentaries released in 2023 was a work which proved the extent to which a cinema feature can capture recent events with a depth that cannot be matched by TV news footage. That film, one which made viewers experience life in a Ukrainian city at a key moment, was Mstyslav Chernov’s 20 Days in Mariupol shot at the time of the Russian invasion. Now we have another film, again deeply tragic in tone albeit rather less harrowing, which possesses that same kind of impact because it too patently has the ability to draw in all who see it to a degree that goes beyond the power of what is shown on the news.
The film in question, Mediha, is primarily the work of Hasan Oswald and its subject is an inspiring 15-year-old girl named Mediha Ibrahim Alhamad. We meet her at a time when she is living with two younger brothers, Ghazwan and Adnan, in a refugee camp which has been their home for two years and which is situated in the Kurdish region of Northern Iraq. Her home had been in the town of Sinjar but in 2014 that became the site of a massacre by the Islamic State, the start of a genocide targeting the Yazidi people. Mediha and her family were victims of this situation including her parents and her three brothers. Mediha herself was kidnapped when just ten years old and then sold into sexual slavery and it was only five years later that she was able to escape. While she and her brothers Ghazwan and Adnan were eventually rescued, the fate of her mother, Afaf, and of her youngest brother, Barzan, continued to remain uncertain (the father had failed to survive).
Oswald, here making his second feature film, not only concentrates on this family throughout but gave Mediha a camera and encouraged her to use it. Taking pictures gave her a new focus at a time when she was still coming to terms with what had happened to her and Oswald’s film is all the more intimate and personal because, in addition to her providing a key voice-over, her own footage plays a not inconsiderable role in the film. But, whoever is behind the camera at any given time, Mediha proves to be a work which effortlessly blends two distinct strands. On the one hand we learn of the work of men seeking to rescue Yazidis who have become victims of Isis. We follow the endeavours of two of them in particular, Bahzad Farhan and Bashar Malallah Murad, who take on the task of trying to trace what has happened to Afaf and to young Barzan. This gives the film a strong narrative thread and there are tense scenes when information is sought within the Isis camp of Al-Hol in the north east of Syria. Nevertheless, it is the other aspect covered in the film which is the most memorable of all. Here we find that we are getting a portrait of Mediha herself and see her becoming a virtual mother to Ghazwan and Adnan while also trying to cope with the dramatic after-effects of what she had endured in the hands of Isis.
The appalling experiences faced by Mediha at that time may be a central feature here but Oswald recognises that there is no need to dwell on them in detail since viewers can imagine it for themselves. So, even as we feel the horror, the film is able to focus on Mediha's remarkable strength and determination, both major factors in enabling her to survive (even the way in which Mediha brushes her teeth in one scene stresses this side of her nature). Oswald never hides the truth and, on those occasions, when Mediha is temporarily overcome by her burden it feels devastating. But that does not last and Oswald’s film functions as a tribute to a young woman of exceptional courage and character. Consequently, Mediha although powerful as a condemnation of Isis and its actions is also an uplifting film because without any falsification, we can see Mediha as a true heroine. All of the people in this piece come across authentically and the younger children seen appear totally natural in front of the camera. Consequently, Mediha works as a compelling and rewarding view of the Yazidi people at a terrible time in their history. But within that context one can only be all the more aware of how richly Mediha Ibrahim Alhamad deserves to have her story told and Hasan Oswald has done her proud.
As a footnote it is worth mentioning that Emma Thompson heard of the project, recognised its potential in Oswald's hands and became an executive producer. Rather than this being a nominal role, she was not only ready with helpful advice as the work progressed as Oswald gratefully acknowledges but has also taken time to promote the film. Just how sound her judgment was will be evident to all who see Mediha.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring Mediha Ibrahim Alhamad, Ghazwan Ibrahim Alhamad, Adnan Ibrahim Alhamad, Barzan Ibrahim Alhamad, Omar Khalaf, Bahzad Farhan, Bashar Malallah Murad, Dr Nemam Ghafouri.
Dir Hasan Oswald, Pro Hasan Oswald, Annelise Mecca, Fahrinisa Campana, Alexander Spiess and Stephen Nemeth, Ex Pro Emma Thompson, Screenplay Hasan Oswald, Ph Mediha Ibrahim Alhamad and Hasan Oswald, Ed Kaitlyn Plum, Music Henry Ross Bloomfield.
Enderby Entertainment/Rhino Films/People In The Park-Together Films.
90 mins. USA. 2023. UK Rel: 22 November 2024. Cert. 15.
