Film Explores Courage in Time of War – Hope Shines in the Darkest Places

The Oscar-nominated documentary The Cave, which looks at civilians besieged by the Syrian War, will be shown Saturday, March 14, at 1:30 p.m., as part of the Second Saturday Documentary Series at Niles Discovery Church, 36600 Niles Boulevard, Fremont. The screening is free and open to the public. Following the screening, there will be a discussion led by Ms. Kadah, a Syrian-American who received degrees at San Jose State University.

The documentary delivers an unflinching look into the subterranean hospital known as the Cave, where for so many hope and safety lie. Pediatrician and managing physician Dr. Amani Ballour and her colleagues Samaher and Dr. Alaa have claimed their right to work as equals alongside their male counterparts, doing their jobs in a way that would be unthinkable in the oppressively patriarchal culture that exists above.

“In the Cave, the hospital covered in this story, we witness how these female doctors and nurses are fighting to reclaim their rights in these subterranean places,” says Feras Fayyad, the film’s director. “They stand up for themselves, which is something they couldn’t do aboveground in the patriarchal culture surrounding them. These women are an inspiration to me, and I believe with this film they will inspire the world as well – contributing to breaking the outside world’s silence. If the silence towards brutality isn’t broken and if no measures are taken against war crimes, then there is a problem in the human’s universal claim to possess the rights of freedom, law and justice.”

Following the women as they contend with daily bombardments, chronic supply shortages and the ever-present threat of chemical attacks, The Cave paints a stirring portrait of courage, resilience, and female solidarity.
Although the subterranean hospital is now gone, The Cave documentary exists as a record of the extraordinary haven that a brave group of doctors – women and men – built beneath the earth’s surface. “In mythology and literature, the underground is where people suffer and kill,” Fayyad reflected. “But Dr. Amani and her fellow doctors turned the underground into a place of surviving, where these incredible women did something every day to change their society.”

The Second Saturday Documentary Series is co-sponsored by Niles Discovery Church and the San Jose Peace and Justice Center. Learn more about the series at http://bit.ly/nilesssds.