“All a refugee needs is an opportunity, not your pity.” This line is spoken by one of the two documentary subjects in Captains of Zaatari, a film directed by Ali El Arabi that was screened at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Mahmoud was sharing this feeling as a Syrian refugee who had been given an incredible opportunity.
Photo Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Best friends Fawzi and Mahmoud are young Syrian men living in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan who spend all of their free time playing football. A door opens for their dreams when the Aspari Academy opens auditions for a soccer team and both boys end up becoming captains of the team. Could football become a path to changing their future?
While the film stays focused on the two boys and how hard they work to achieve their dreams, there’s a lot of subtext about the life of a refugee and the laws that make life extremely difficult. Fawzi’s family, for example, was separated from his dad who lives in another camp and has been denied requests to join them. The camera captures fleeting moments of life within Zaatari, happy moments of kids dancing in the streets, smiling and waving at the camera and intimate moments of Fawzi helping his sister with her homework by candlelight.
With sports at its core, Captains of Zaatari is easily accessible for all viewers giving them a common theme to share with these men from another culture who live in a situation very different from life in the United States. With Directo Ali El Arabi having directed work for National Geographic’s MENA (Middle Eastern North Africa) division, the film seems like it could be a likely fit for National Geographic Documentary Films to distribute. At the same time, ESPN Films would be another Disney brand that could help expand the reach of this documentary around the world.
“There is always hope,” one of the boys says at the end of the film, and that’s one of the big takeaways. Captains of Zaatari is an inspiring story with two charismatic subjects that will make audiences rethink any preconceived notions they may have about refugees. It’s a film that reminds us that we’re all humans and though our cultures and languages might be different, deep down we’re all the same.
I give Captains of Zaatari 5 out of 5 stars.