For Of Fathers and Sons, the Syrian director Talal Derki returned from Berlin to his home country, gained the trust of the Islamist leader Abu Osama, and then spent more than two years documenting the everyday life of the man's family, especially that of his two sons, Ayman (12) and Osama (13). A childhood between war games, combat training and indoctrination, but not without tender moments of fatherly love: a film about the transmission of extremism of all forms.

'I cut off the bird's head,' says thirteen-year-old Osama to his father at one point, 'just like you did with that man.' The father is al-Nusra rebel leader Abu Osama, the trust of whom the Syrian director Talal Derki was able to win, thus allowing the filmmaker to capture on film an inside view of an otherwise inaccessible world over the course of two years. The focus of the film is on children, above all Osama and his year-younger brother Ayman. Instead of going to school, they learn the surah of the Quran – which even the youngest of all the brothers, only two years of age, can already parrot back – and play on tanks and rejoice when their small, homemade bombs explode. Sometimes the father is strict, sometimes loving, but the goal is clear: the sons are going to become Islamist warriors of God in a third world war – and the day indeed comes when the boys begin training for armed combat at the camp of an IS-affiliated splinter group. The film is as restrained as it is gripping, and looks far beyond its ostensible theme of Islamism: it is a filmic essay on the transmission of extremism of all forms.

Reviews and commentary:
"You can certainly argue about the method employed to reveal these children to the public. But it is the only means with which to catch a rare glimpse into a closed world, into an upbringing towards hatred and terrorism, into a readiness for killing, which is as harrowing as it is revealing. For that, the glimpse is by all means differentiated, as this father also reveals tender moments, and the children – who have their childhood stolen – are seen with great empathy." (Knut Elstermann, radio eins)

"Some excesses of this extremism are so bizarre that they almost become funny. For example, when Abu Osama, who works as a minesweeper, loses a foot in an accident and thanks Allah for taking his left foot instead of the right one – as he had prayed Allah should do, so that he would still be able to drive. Talal Derki observes all this in the ostensibly austere style of direct cinema. The camera attempts to be as invisible as possible – but is definitely noticed by the protagonists of the documentary. Abu Osama uses it as a counterpart with which to bloviate, to boast, and to display his obscure worldview and his own importance as a warrior in the Holy War. He also projects himself in front of his children. Did he ever truly behead a man, as he has told his sons?" (Martina Knoben, Süddeutsche Zeitung)

"Women are not present in the documentary. His wife is heard only once, crying, when Abu Osama is brought into the house seriously injured. But he gruffly orders her to be silent. For Talal Derki, next to the children, the women are the main victims of the jihadist system: 'In this society, women are not allowed to talk, they are not allowed to even be seen. Strangers are not permitted to hear their voices. The room is full of strangers in this scene, and Abu Osama yells at her to remain silent. Because she doesn't have the right to share her grief with anyone. For women, this society is a huge prison. And even if these men were peaceful and non-violent, I could never accept their society simply because of the way they treat their wives, the way they see them solely as their property.'" (Wolfgang Martin Hamdorf, Deutschlandfunk)

Talal Derki in conversation with Kathrin Heinrich, Süddeutsche Zeitung

Why did you put yourself in the risk of being discovered for such a long time?
I wanted to understand the phenomenon. What happened to Syria. How a Syrian city could become the capital of ISIS. All those people that are suddenly religious and send their children into battle – all that brainwashing.

And do you now understand how violence is passed on from generation to the next?
I know now that it can be avoided – regardless of the country. If we protect the children and give them a peaceful childhood, they won't become militants as adults.

(…)

Is the setting of the film, Syria, of any importance?
No, it was clear from the beginning that it's not about Syria, or the civil war. What I'm looking at is the philosophy and heritage of violence. About protecting the children, and understanding the extremists. It could happen anywhere. There are people everywhere that believe in violence and hate, that want to fight and argue. That is why I also show no direct violence in my film but, instead, the deep psychological trauma that becomes visible through the conversations.

At the beginning of the film, you reveal how your father told you as a child to write down your nightmares so that they wouldn't come back. Have you captured a nightmare in Of Fathers and Sons?
Yes, it is my worst nightmare: the hate and the rise of extremism.

Could you ever return to Syria?
No, that would be suicide. I will always remain in exile. I have become used to the word 'exile'. My philosophy is that home is anywhere you feel at peace. For me, this home is Berlin. A place that accepts and merges different cultures so that something new can be created – that is the power of Berlin.


Frederik Lang

Production Country

Germany (DE), Lebanon (LB), Qatar (QA), Syria (SY)

Production Period

2014-2017

Production Year

2017

color

color

Aspect Ratio

1:1,85

Duration

Feature-Length Film (61+ Min.)

Type

Documentary

Genre

Biography / Portrait, Anti-war / War Film

Topic

Relationship / Family, Religion, Extremism / Terrorism

Available Media

DCP, Blu-ray Disc, DVD

Original Version

Arabic (ar)

DCP

Subtitles

German (full), English (en), French (fr), Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (short), Russian (ru)

Blu-ray Disc

Subtitles

German (full), English (en), French (fr), Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (short), Russian (ru)

DVD

Subtitles

German (partly), German (full), English (en), French (fr), Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (short), Russian (ru)