I watched Hunger ward the new documentary, which is directed by the Oscar-nominated director Skye Fitzgerald. It was good timing as Biden just announced that the United state will assert step up diplomacy to "end the war in Yemen", also, just days before the Biden administration removed Yemen's Houthi group from the terrorism list. I think it is good timing as it provides a perspective on how the war in Yemen discussed and portrait in nontraditional sours of news, which can be a reflection on what are the voices that maters and loud enough. The movie tells the story of Dr. Aida Alsadeeq who works in Aden, south of Yemen, and Nurse Mekkia Mahdi who works in Aslam, a town in the northwest of Yemen. It presents some faces and personal stories behind the massive campaigns of aid NGOs that flooded social media announcing the worst humanitarian crises. The movie attempt to generate empathy through These stories, it was sad and devastating, and for the majority of the movie, I really appreciate it. However, it was lazy. I wished that it followed the story of the individuals a little farther. I know it can be hard to do so, but that was the core of the movie and it deserved a little more attention.
It is a short documentary that discusses personal stories to some limits and didn't highlight the many reasons for this crisis which is good enough. However, as lazy as traditional media the director chooses to shove a clip about an airstrike of funeral that happened in 2016. I couldn't understand the relevance of the clip other than a lazy attempt to highlight the war situation from one corner. How lazy is it to force a narrative without going through all the factors leading to the hunger crises in Yemen? Also, couldn't really go over the mistake in the Arabic spelling in the name of Dr. Aida Alsadeeq. In the end, it is frustrating how lightly we deal with what is happening in Yemen. American media talking about ending the war, and frankly, I can say naive empathy is dangerous, I learned that the hard way. You don't help by scratching the surface and framing a complex conflict from one point of view.
Art is powerful and we should treat it as such. It's not a project of merely tear-jerking to create empathy. It's about telling a story and aspiring for justice. The movie merely highlighted the hunger crisis and for the ones who follow the news coming from Yemen, it didn't go much beyond what you can see in news headlines.
