As "Simple As Water" (2021 release; 97 min.) opens, we see young kids playing as a woman (their mother) watches, but in the background we can tell that this is at/near a tent city. After the opening credits, we are introduced to the woman, Yasmin, and we are in "Athens, Greece". Turns out the woman and her 4 kids ages 9, 7, 6 and 5, are stranded in Athens as they try to get to German, where the husband/father already is. But that is easier said than done... At this point we are 10 min into the film.
Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from producer-director Megan Mylan ("Lost Boys of Sudan"). Here she confronts us the viewers with what day-to-day life looks like for the millions of Syrians that have fled (were forced to flee) their home country resulting from the never-ending and brutal civil war, still going on to this very day. Everyone has heard of the Syrian refugees crisis, but I cannot immediately recall a prior in-depth attempt like this film at putting a human face on this terrible human tragedy. Watch for the incredible scene when Yasmin's 9 yr old daughter asks a bunch of penetrating questions to her mom, who then tries to give as comforting an answer as she can. At a certain point, the girl, now in tears, says "I don't want to go to Germany!' Just breaks your heart.
"Simple As Water" premiered earlier this week on HBO and is now available on HBO On Demand and on HBO Max (where I caught it). If you have any interest in the devastating effects of a refugee crisis the scale of which we have never seen before, I'd readily suggest you check out this deeply moving and human documentary, and draw your own conclusion.
