‘Return to Homs’: Documentary reveals desperation of Syrian people

“Return to Homs,” a documentary film by Talal Derki, was shown Thursday, Oct. 23 in the Bayou Theater.

The film records the civil unrest going on in Syria since early 2011 and focuses on the people in the city of Homs, specifically a young man named Abdul Basset al-Saroot who takes on the Syrian army with seemingly no fear.

Basset, as he prefers to be called, describes his city as one that used to be full of life, but now there are tanks creating road blockages, piles of rubble that were once places of business or homes, and the ever-piercing sounds of guns shooting and grenades exploding. It has become a city of total destruction.

“This is Homs, but I don’t know where I am,” Basset said.

Basset held peaceful protests around the city with his chants and songs proclaiming that it was wrong for the government to destroy its people. He declared that the citizens wanted to return to their homes with their families and that too many people had been killed and injured. Their once lively Syria was being ruined, and it felt as if the world was choosing to abandon the people who needed its help.

While Basset would have rather made changes peacefully, combatting with words began to prove inadequate. He did not want to fight with weapons, but he and his friends decided they were left with no other choice if they were going to come out alive.

“We’d never win if we stay peaceful,” Basset said as he gave a small tour of where he and his friends were hiding and keeping their weapons.

Basset and his group of friends did fight back but were no match for the Syrian army, even with all of the heavy artillery they had obtained. Many of the young men were killed, and only a handful narrowly escaped with Basset.

While the film itself did come to an end, this country’s war still exists.

Jeff Bowen, the coordinator of audience development and the UHCL Art Gallery, organized the screening, which was held in conjunction with the art exhibition, I Spy I Smell the Love of Gas and Bombs: Recent paintings by Gerald Ferstman.

“As an artist, it is Ferstman’s goal to present images of global, domestic, and political violence, and his latest series on the war in Syria are among the strongest works of his long career,” Bowen said.

Ferstman’s paintings depicted aspects of the turmoil in Syria. The Houston Arts Alliance provided a $4,000 grant for the exhibition, which allowed Bowen to expand the exhibit to include additional events.

“This paid for costs to bring the artwork and artist to Houston as well supplemental educational outreach activities, including Thursday night’s event,” Bowen said. “Working with the Office of Student Life, we successfully managed to get the rights to show ‘Return to Homs.’”

Following the film was a lecture by Joshua Landis, an expert in Syrian affairs, director of the Center of Middle Eastern Studies and an associate professor in the College of International Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

Landis discussed how complicated the entire situation is. People in Syria are challenging the authoritarian rule of the government with protests around the country, and the government, in retaliation, has been trying to destroy rebel groups while holding tightly to those who want to remain loyal.

“There’s a class element and there’s a religious element to the struggle,” Landis said. “And there’s a country versus city. By and large, the cities, the urban centers, have remained loyal. Not in Homs.”

The rebels feel forgotten and want help from other countries, such as the United States, to destroy the Syrian government in order to gain an advantage in obtaining freedom.

Landis mentioned Basset and the perspective Basset has from the inside looking out to the rest of the world.

“He’s so desperate in this film,” Landis said. “It’s a very sad moment, because it’s the same guy with the same sparkle in his eyes. But he’s emaciated. He’s thin. And he believes that he’s been abandoned by the world, which he has. Many rebels believe that they have been forsaken by the United States, which is killing ISIS and doing very little, next to nothing, to help the rebels. But if you look at it from an American standpoint, from a Washington point-of-view, U.S. strategy has been to contain the violence of Syria, not to solve a Syrian civil war.”

Landis also explained that Syria is essentially trapped in its current state.

“It’s a very dark future for Syria,” Landis said. “I don’t see a way out of this right now. Nobody is proposing anything that seems doable, and you just hear so many ideas and nothing that sounds very reasonable, which is a bad sign.”