‘Valley of Exile’ Sensitively Depicts Syrian Refugees’ Lives
Valley of Exile takes a naturalistic approach to capture the lives of Syrian refugees, Set in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon in 2013, the film follows sisters Rima (Maria Hassan) and Nour (Hala Hosni) as they seek refuge in Lebanon in the early years of the Syrian Civil War. With both of their parents deceased, Rima is eight months pregnant and bearing the responsibility of her forthcoming child as well as teenager Nour. Their journey takes unexpected turns but is grounded by the humanity of all those they meet. Shot within an actual Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon, director and writer Anna Fahr depicts the lives of the two sisters with honesty and empathy.
The narrative is intentionally loose, following Nour and Rima as they navigate their daily lives. They live in a refugee camp with Haifa (Najwa Kondakji) and her niece Shirin (Joy Hallak), who welcome them with open arms. Rima can secure work cleaning the house of Khaled (Michel Hourani) – an engineer and widower who patches up the housing in the refugee camp in his spare time. Beauty is found in the sprawling fields of the valley and minutiae of daily life: the cups of tea Rima makes in their tent's makeshift kitchen, the embroidered pillows she admires in Khaled's home, the grass Nour collects into small bouquets. Each moment of joy is something shared with others, or created to be shared.
The acts of kindness and relationships Rima and Nour form thrust the story forward. Rima's employment in Khaled's home is an act of compassion; They are both aware he does not urgently need house cleaning done, but she needs employment and wants to help. This stability found in the community is what they can live on, but unlike her older sister, Nour is continually deterred by their lack of belonging. "Nobody wants us here," she argues to her sister. She wants to find their brother Ahmad, who is among Syrian rebels and seeks out help through Shirin's military boyfriend Hassan. She is young, a wanderer with a deep frustration at the situation that Rima has been jaded past the point of. Sitting with Khaled at his dinner table, he and Rima bond over the mutual loss they've experienced, and he says, "At some point, you realize nothing is in your control."
As the heart of Valley of Exile, Rima and Nour's relationship is superbly acted by Hassan and Hosni. Hassan is as deeply determined and quietly mournful as Rima, and Hosni complements this with a wide-eyed observance and muted anger as Nour. Rima treks throughout the city early on in search of the apartment her husband Firas says they can live in – though this housing situation eventually falls through – and Nour frustratedly says she shouldn't walk so much in her heavily pregnant condition. They both find themselves in unexpected caretaker roles for each other due to their situation and lean on each other for comfort.
The sisters' loss follows them in every step and emerges in moments when they are reminded. When Nour patches a blister on Rima's foot she recalls how her mother did this for her when she was younger. Later, she remarks that Rima looks like their mother did as she washes dishes, and remembers studying at the dinner table while her mother washed up in the kitchen. The fragments of former life we receive in these moments are devastating. There are no moments of wailing or emotional breakdowns to be observed, but an implicit grieving encircling Nour, Rima, and all those they interact with. When Rima experiences a massive loss later in the film, Haifa and Shirin understand (without words) what she has experienced. Grief is not necessarily the subject of Valley of Exile, but a fixture of its skeleton, and it is through persistent remembrance that our characters process their grief.
Ultimately, since Valley of Exile is about relationships at its core, the division between Nour and Rima's perspectives on how to move forward undergoes deep tests. Nour gets into hot water during her search for Ahmad, and Rima is asked to provide information on Ahmad's whereabouts when she is detained at the border when trying to meet her husband. Rima sees her responsibility as herself, her unborn child, and Nour, while Nour is set on uniting her family and finding her brother. The idea of family itself varies respectively and the sisters' decisions in their situations speak volumes about their perspectives. The film's ending is heartbreaking but also hopeful, and honest to its characters.
There is great distance placed between the characters and the war that caused them to flee – they observe its occurrences on flashes of news coverage they see in a grocery store, and Ahmad's home and it only serves to emphasize the lack of control they have. The decisions individuals make are contextualized by a lack of control, and of necessity in various situations. The film emphasizes the transience of refugees’ experience and the interior lives of the women who navigate it. Though not a documentary, there is a truth that lies at the core of the story that lends it authenticity. There is no dramatization or over-sentimentality with these victims of war shown, but a frankness that sinks in. Valley of Exile is honest and delicate, not voyeuristic, in how these lives are portrayed
