Anas Zawahri's documentary 'My Memory Is Full of Ghosts' offers a deeply moving visual hymn for the bombed-out Syrian city of Homs. The film lays heart-wrenching testimony over languorous shots of bullet-ridden ruins and deserted streets, capturing the collective trauma and sorrow that persist long after the fighting has ceased.
The Devastation of Homs
The western Syrian city of Homs is now only a husk of its former self. Once a major industrial centre, the region became a key battleground between 2011 and 2014 for Bashar al-Assad's army and rebel forces. Amid the immense bloodshed, hundreds of thousands of civilians were either displaced or trapped inside their own homes. Filmed in the summer of 2023, this documentary from Palestinian-born, Syria-based filmmaker Anas Zawahri maps out the enduring grief and trauma.
Visual Storytelling of Ruins
The film unfolds in languorous, largely static shots of bombed rubble, hollowed-out buildings, and deserted streets. It lays bare the startling extent of wartime brutality. A sense of stillness and stagnancy hangs in the air, and almost every wall is riddled with bullet holes—urban scars that mirror the psychological wounds borne by survivors. Their heart-wrenching testimony is laid over these images of destruction, lending a human dimension to the ruins.
Survivor Testimonies
One resident ruminates over how Homs changed from a city of laughter to one of agony and grief. With bitter irony, another considers himself lucky to be blind, thus spared the mental shock of seeing his beloved hometown razed. These personal accounts add depth to the visual devastation.
Elegiac Tone and Resilience
Punctuated by songs of lamentation, the film is elegiac in tone, a visual hymn for what Homs once was. While bearing witness to the pain left behind, Zawahri also makes space for the resilience of the living, with a special focus on children and adolescents. The war's impact on their lives is enormous—many are working as adults instead of going to school, though we see them engage in spirited play, even when surrounded by ruins. With peace more fragile than ever, their innocence and joy strike a bittersweet chord.
'My Memory Is Full of Ghosts' is in True Story from 12 June.
