For Sama (2019)

This documentary is a masterpiece. For the final year of her time in Aleppo, the journalist and filmmaker Waad Al-Kateab lived with her husband in a makeshift hospital of his own creation. She filmed absolutely everything that occured, the climax being the birth of her first daughter, Sama. This film which was made for little Sama documents that year in the hospital as the dead and wounded piled up and the Russian and Syrian Army fighters got closer and closer. My heart was in my mouth for the entire experience. As the hospital continually gets hit, Al-Kateab keeps the camera running. The viewer is under attack from Russian barrel bombs just as these brave Syrian resistors are. It’s completely unique and I can’t think of another documentary that brings war so close. A must see and one for the Oscars to be sure.

For Sama (2019): One of the most intense & heartfelt films in any genre I’ve ever seen.