s, “The Long Night” has garnered critical acclaim and awards but, at home in Syria, censors remain nervous about permitting the screening of a film on the topic of political prisoners.Director Hatem Ali’s debut feature-length film is a humane and engaging drama that begins with three aging political prisoners suddenly told they are going home after having spent two decades behind bars.“The Long Night” has been screened extensively in Africa, Europe and Asia, where it won top prize last year at the Osian’s-Cinefan Film Festival in New Delhi last October.It has not yet been publicly shown anywhere in Syria, however, not even at the Damascus Film Festival late last year, which screened 250 films from 50 countries.The story opens with a theatrical dream sequence. An unidentified bearded man walks down a set of steps though a nighttime storm, acting every inch the Old Testament Prophet. The man, Hassan (Najah Safk), turns out to be one of four long-term political prisoners who share a cell in an undisclosed location somewhere in the Syrian desert.As three of the men go about their morning ritual, the camera of Mohamed Mgrawi focuses upon the small details of their cramped existence – the burner of the hotplate where they prepare tea and so forth.Rumors have emerged that the men will be released and they discuss the outside world with guarded optimism.Hassan, an actor, emerges as the most enthusiastic of the men. Karim (Khaled Aga), once a prominent official in a dissident leftist organization, is the most pessimistic.It turns out only three of the four will be released this day. In the early going, the film follows the preparations of three men who are to be released, and Hassan’s shattered realization that he’s being kept behind. As it develops, though, the story is mostly concerned with Karim and his family.When they hear about their father’s release, the now-mature children gather from around Syria and Europe to return to the family home to greet the fierce patriarch. All but the youngest son, Kifah (Fadi Abou-Samra), appear to be acting out of reluctant duty rather than optimism or love, since all have made compromises with the governing regime. Indeed, it’s eventually revealed that Karim was arrested at the behest of his former best friend, a party member.Karim himself, meanwhile, has undertaken a circuitous journey – presumably home.Screenwriter Haitham Hakki portrays the anguish of a family that has grown used to living with a father in jail, but now has to integrate a stranger back into the fold.Karim finds that his son, Nidal, has done well for himself by keeping his head down and his thoughts to himself.Karim’s daughter, Uruba (Ami Arfa), is now married to the son of his former best friend, who had engineered Karim’s imprisonment and now benefits from his close ties to the regime.The film is a metaphor for a country in which the regime is undecided on how to change things and where the very subject of political prisoners is discussed only in hushed tones.Uruba’s marriage, the screenwriter says, is a metaphor for reconciliation.“It is an invitation to reconciliation, to putting an end to these exceptional circumstances,” Hakki said. The film “does not hold back, it is bold,” he continued, but it “is in the interests of the country, because it reflects a certain opening, a margin of freedom.”Only Kifah remains true to his father’s ideals, and symbolizes a new generation that is idealistic, bold and ready to speak out.The coming to power in Syria a decade ago of President Bashar Assad following the death of his father, strongman Hafez Assad, ushered in a brief period of freedom dubbed the “Damascus Spring.”Damascus’ Winter returned in the summer of 2001 with a crackdown that saw the arrest of 10 pro-democracy activists.US-based Human Rights Watch has said that Syria’s human rights record “remains very poor,” and the organization has called on the state release political prisoners and ease media censorship.Director Ali said he was given permission to shoot the film. “Of course we got authorization for the screenplay,” he said, “since in Syria you can’t film in secret.” He said he had no idea whether “The Long Night” would ever be granted a license so it could be screened in public.Hakki was more upbeat about its prospects. “The film is waiting to be shown,” he said. “It did not displease the censorship commission, and even pleased some people there.”Hakki said that lower-ranking censorship officials may have been reluctant to authorize the film’s screening, because taking a wrong decision could have landed them in hot water.“The subject is sensitive,” Hakki aded. “It is being touched upon for the first time, and consequently authorization must come from the top. I am optimistic the problem will be solved.”For Ali, “it’s a film that takes a purely human interest approach, far from [political] slogans. It carefully tackles the problem” of political prisoners. – With The Daily Star
