THE WAR TO COME
The war to come is not the first (Bertold Brecht)
It is the war going on in Syria, but it could be elsewhere, wherever there is an enemy to fight. A film about a friendship interrupted prematurely, about a relationship of brotherhood born in the Syrian front line where two comrades are enlisted in the regular army.
Through extraordinary access, the film recounts the most dangerous area of the frontline, describing the daily routine of government troops in a frontline outpost.
The days of soldiers Baraq, Zouheir and their infantry battalion flow slowly and repetitively. The daily reality of war is different from the one depicted in the collective imagination, and slips into a seemingly endless succession of actions and military rituals, in a waiting time interrupted by sudden accelerations and dramas. The digging of trenches, guard duty, the cleaning of weapons, tales of fellow soldiers, and drills. The sudden loss of a comrade brings the soldiers back to the concreteness of the inevitability of war and their shared precariousness. Their daily equilibrium remains suspended in the wait for the end of
the conflict, in the unfulfilled dream of returning to civilian life, or even just in the hope of joining their families for a few days’ leave. But time passes and the war continues inexorably.
An attentive and silent observation of a year at the front that shows, in its adherence to bodies and the passing of everyday time, the ever changing nature of positional wars. A reflection on the paradoxical absurdity of this and other wars.
A film by Marco Pasquini
Co-produced with Rai Cinema and in association with Audioimage
Shortlisted at Premio Solinas 2016, EURODOC 2016, MIBACT
Italy | 80 min | 2021