AS THOUGH NOTHING HAPPENED

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Welcome back to Chebbi Unscripted, where we analyze Arab cinema and uncover the cultural and political themes woven into each story. Today, we're taking a closer look at As Though Nothing Happened by Taim Karesly—a Syrian short film that offers a profound, understated portrayal of ordinary life during extraordinary times.

Released in 2011, As Though Nothing Happened is set in Syria with the worst of its civil war behind it, leaving behind the people who stayed in the country and the rubble which they have called home. In a documentary-style video, the film interviews various people, from the director’s mother to close friends and neighbors who have lived through the war. Through their dialogue and responses emerges a conflicting optimism – hope for a better future for themselves and their country marred with the despair which has engulfed them since 2011.

For those of you readers unaware, Syria has been a hotbed of conflict since 2011, with political and social stirrings existing in years much earlier. In the years leading up to and after 2011 the country was marked by a complex tapestry of political repression, economic challenges, and censorship, all under the Assad regime. While many criticized his policies, including those on farming and irrigation which fueled the region’s worst drought in a century, public dissent was rare and quickly silenced. However, as countries within the MENA region began revolting against their own oppressive rulers, starting with Tunisia and Ben Ali, within Syria, along with Libya, Yemen, and Kuwait to an extent, the status quo began to fracture as people across the region rallied against autocratic rule. In Tunisia, autocratic rule was quickly overthrown anand new democratic systems emerged. In Syria, however, results were not as fruitful – what ensued would be the largest humanitarian crisis of the 2010s, in a war that would leave over 90% of the civilian population below the poverty line (Lederer, 2023). According to Elizabeth Thompson, “the regime's legitimacy was shaken as Syrians looked to their neighbors, witnessing demands for democracy” (Thompson, 2012). Twelve years after the region’s most intense fighting in contemporary history, Karesly takes to the screen to interview those still in Syria about their experiences in the past decade and how they’ve adapted. What is perhaps more shocking, though, than their responses and the film’s cinematography, is life in the film is a microcosm of this larger societal tension; his quiet resilience and subtle expressions of apprehension encapsulate the resilience of Syrians facing a looming upheaval.

As the film opens, the audience is greeted with a quickly-moving carousel of clips from the beginning of the civil war to its end in 2022. As the clips progress, images of buildings reduced to rubble are juxtaposed with images of United Nations meetings, clips of parents holding their lifeless children’s bodies in their hands sandwiched between pictures of world leaders hugging one another and sharing smiles. The film’s title, As Though Nothing Happened, takes on a layered significance here. In light of the worst humanitarian crisis of the 2010s, amid a war with total casualty count nearing a million lives one hand, including 350,000 combatants and over 500,000 civilians (Barrons, 2024), the movie’s jarring images show just how much attention and significance was put onto the Syrian cause. The lack of importance in international eyes of the Syrian civil war reflected the title perfectly – as Syria descended into mayhem and conflict, the rest of the world went about their day “as if nothing happened.”

In the United States, we see similar issues unfold. In the last decade, countless instances of marginalized communities facing adversity have arisen. In Flint, Michigan, African American neighborhoods have been left without clean drinking water since 2014 over a break in faulty infrastructure. Muslim communities in diverse areas like New York and Chapel Hill have been the victims of Islamophobic attacks as a result of international conflicts with which they have nothing to do. Yet, somehow, these issues, even at home, seem to be buried under the latest pop culture updates, smothered under the newest catalogs. As communities in our backyard quietly suffer from injustices brought upon them by our own doing, we unknowingly turn a blind eye to these issues. Much like in “As Though Nothing Happened,” our lives seemingly go on without addressing those issues that need to be spoken about – just as Syria’s people suffered and continue to silently, we encounter those same issues on local and national levels.

In the broader context of Arab cinema, As Though Nothing Happened stands out as a quiet but potent commentary on life amid looming conflict, much like the subtleties found in Kammoun Falafel or Masri’s Frontiers of Dreams and Fears. Each film presents a world where individuals strive for normalcy against a backdrop of tension. In doing so, they highlight the universality of human resilience—the ability to cling to routine, to ordinary life, even as the world becomes increasingly uncertain.

So, what are your thoughts on As Though Nothing Happened? How does it compare to other films that capture life in pre- or post-conflict societies? Share your reflections below, and let's keep unraveling these layers together.

Until next time, keep watching, reflecting, and exploring Arab cinema with Chebbi Unscripted.

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