The War Show is based on footage gathered by Obaidah Zytoon while she lived in Syria and took part in the uprising there. Some she shot herself; some was shot by friends. As we studied this footage together, it became obvious that it contained moments of immense power. But the collection had a very fragmented nature. Telling a coherent story without jeopardizing those moments for the sake of dramatic storytelling became our challenge. The movie is told in chapters to give the story an open-ended quality and to let the audience explore the scenes on their own. We don't connect all the dots; rather, we let the audience do it.
With this form of storytelling, a complex reality emerged that to us shows a more human perspective of Syria and its war. It does so by challenging each interpretation of that moment. How did these events really happen? What is the role of the camera? How do people act toward the camera? What is the construction of self and society that plays out in front of our eyes?
The War Show was based on hundreds of hours of conversations. From there, we culled a selection of moments that would make it into the film. We wanted to tell a personal story about the fate of Obaidah and her friends within the bigger context of the Syrian regime's oppression. And we wanted to lay bare the fate of millions of people who today are suffering from the events in Syria, whether they are refugees in exile, or children and adults still struggling for survival inside the country. How do we comprehend their sense of being in the world? How do we gain an understanding of the tragedy they all endure? And how do we avoid exploiting their fates for the sake of entertainment, and instead gain a deeper understanding of the situation itself?
There are many important things to be said about the Syrian conflict. We, as a world community, are only beginning to grasp its repercussions. No other conflict has been filmed as much, yet the truth continues to evade us. As we analyze and learn from this ongoing tragedy, a new reality emerges based on old patterns. The global game of power played by Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, the United States and Turkey has turned Syrian soil into a proxy-war battlefield. Yet the desire for self-determination on the part of the Syrian people that led to the uprising in 2011 is not gone. This film shows what happened on the ground and in people's minds. The horror of terrorism in Syria and in the larger world today is a deeply human tragedy, which can be explained and must be understood. It could have been different if the international will had been there.
The truth hides in the details. We strongly believe that when each detail is studied thoroughly and honestly, a more complete picture emerges. This is important not for the sake of entertainment, but in the interest of writing history. We wanted to leave the world a document that will have real value in years to come.
— Obaidah Zytoon and Andreas Dalsgaard, Directors