War wears many faces.
When we hear the term, we automatically think of soldiers dressed up in combat uniforms, carrying weapons into a hostile part of the world, doing battle against their enemies.
In war however, the people who suffer the most are civilians.
When a nation is invaded and occupied, or becomes completely engulfed in conflict, the people who live normally live there usually have no other choice but to flee to other countries, thus turning them into refugees.
But the real cost occurs should these refugees decide to return to their homelands. There, they often find their nation in ruins, their economy eviscerated, friends and family either dead or still in other countries, and the risk that their enemies might still remain near their homes.
Iraq is currently going through such an issue, it seems.
Before I viewed ‘A Family’s Return to Mosul’, I was expecting to expect the family returning to the ruins of what was once their home, and then would be told that several members of their family were either missing or still refugees.
I would then be shown footage on how the family is struggling to get back onto their norm. All the while, the family would to struggle to remain clinging to hope.
I must confess that I was quite surprised at Younis Salman’s words.
Despite the fears that the family had about their house and the surrounding neighborhood, they seemed quite eager to return home. They were willing to leave the refugee camp they were living in and return to their bomb-damaged house.
Now, I know that refugee camps aren’t really the most glamorous places, but I was quite surprised that they were willing to take that big of a risk of returning to a former warzone so soon after a conflict, only four weeks if I remember correctly.
As for the overall mood, of course they were scared, but they also seemed determined to make it work. At the beginning of the film, they were setting up rugs and cloth around the room, giving the insight that they were slowly but surely readjusting back into everyday life.
I found this to be somewhat comforting, as this shows that these people have not let war completely dominate their lives, and are not afraid to make the journey back home to rebuild.
I originally believed that whenever refuges left a country, the vast majority of them would eventually find settlement in other countries. The few who would return would have great difficulty in returning to living their lives.
If given the chance to right a story about wartime refugees, I believe that getting both sides would be essential. I would want to get stories from people who would want to leave from a war-torn country, and find lives in other places, and for those who would want to return to their home countries.
The number one question I would ask those who would return to their countries why did they make that decision. Is this because that it’s just due to homesickness, or does it have some sentimental value to them? How would they attempt to rebuilt their lives?
To tell a story about war, you’ll need to get plenty of first-hand accounts. Of course, soldiers are always a gold mine of this sort of information. But it’s important that civilians who experience it too, whether they’re forced out of their home countries, or forced to be unwilling participants in battles. It might not hurt to get interviews from different factions of the conflict as well.
But regardless of which, I pray for these people. I pray that one day that they will find peace, and that they will live out their lives without the fear of invasion and destruction. I pray that one day they will one day be reunited with separated loved ones, either on their home turf, or in far away countries.
Bust most of all, I pray for that one day in which all of this fighting will stop, and I know in my heart that there are many people out there who do the same.
Later.
JereWCurtis4Oakland 