©Courtesy of Together
It is no exaggeration to say that the humanitarian crisis involving refugees and migrants is one of the most daunting issues of our day. In the United States, the southern border has become a flashpoint of tension, provoking contentious rhetoric in this year’s presidential election campaign. Abroad, legions of people have been displaced by wars in Ukraine and Gaza, to say nothing of terrorist-driven genocide directed against the Yazidi people in Iraq and Kurdistan.
From the comfort of our living rooms, it is easy to regard these crises as abstractions, as little more than djsembodied images on our television screens. But then comes a captivating documentary film like Mediha, an unscripted cinema-verité tour de force that challenges our complicity by presenting a searing, personal narrative about one family caught up in the maelstrom.
Written and directed by Hasan Oswald, and produced by Oscar winner Emma Thompson, Mediha had its premiere at DOC NYC, the nation’s largest documentary film festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize. It has since captured several other prestigious prizes, and has become a powerful manifesto in the human-rights sphere.
©Courtesy of Together
Mediha trains its lens on the story of a girl named Mediha Ibrahim Alhamad. When she was ten years old, she was kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery by ISIS terrorists during the Sinjar massacre in northern Iraq. After she was discovered living in a refugee camp in Kurdistan in 2019, Oswald supplied her with a video camera so she could document her own experience. The result is nothing short of brilliant, offering a haunting self-made portrait of a young woman beset by overwhelming trauma.
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As stated in the film’s synopsis: “Mediha, a teenage Yazidi girl who has recently returned from ISIS captivity, turns her camera on herself to process her trauma while rescuers search for her missing family members. This is the story of the Yazidi genocide and its aftermath, shown through the lens of one young survivor as she confronts her past through personal video-diaries, reclaiming her voice and stepping bravely towards the future.”
Mediha’s story is told without fanfare or extravagant cinematics, which adds to the poignancy of this impressive film. In addition to the footage shot by the young woman, viewers are treated to scenes that document the efforts of rescue organizations trying to reunite families affected by the crisis. But perhaps the most touching scenes are those of Mediha’s younger brothers at play, reinforcing the notion that children are still children, even when they live in a refugee camp and must endure the tragic reality of family separation. The heart-melting scene toward the end of the film when the children are finally reunited leaves viewers with a genuine sense that hope indeed prevails.
Unfortunately, most of the women who have suffered such a fate have been too frightened to identify their captors. But, in the words of producer Emma Thompson: “What Mediha has had to face is overwhelming. One wonders how she survived it all — but she did and at the tender age of 18, she is heroically doing the essential work of bringing her perpetrator to justice and becoming an advocate for the Yazidi people.”
©Courtesy of Together
Rating: A+
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Here’s the trailer of the film.