This film is about a young Syrian refugee in Jordan, who is a wheelchair after being shot by a sniper when he went out to buy sweets. He talks about this experience, and his dreams for the future. As such the film doesn't really go too deep – it lets Bashir narrate, with appropriate music underneath, and of course it is horrific as a story, and does make the viewer wish the best for him and every other refugee. There isn't anything deeper than this in terms of content, or in terms of feeling/output for the viewer. Being honest, if the content was the whole thing then it wouldn't stand out among many, many films dealing with the crisis in Syria.
This is compensated somewhat by the technical delivery. I've yet to see a VR film where the device really added to the film, as opposed to simple adding the ability to move around 360 degrees within a shot. This is the same here – it was cool to be able to look around while watching, but I was conscious that I was doing that for the sake of doing it, and because mostly the film wasn't gripping me. The animated parts are interesting and well done, and generally the technical delivery of the film does add to the film – although ultimately the superficial nature of the content is what limits the final product.
It is short enough, direct enough, and technically interesting enough to be worth a look, but it doesn't make as big a mark as any of these things should have.
This is compensated somewhat by the technical delivery. I've yet to see a VR film where the device really added to the film, as opposed to simple adding the ability to move around 360 degrees within a shot. This is the same here – it was cool to be able to look around while watching, but I was conscious that I was doing that for the sake of doing it, and because mostly the film wasn't gripping me. The animated parts are interesting and well done, and generally the technical delivery of the film does add to the film – although ultimately the superficial nature of the content is what limits the final product.
It is short enough, direct enough, and technically interesting enough to be worth a look, but it doesn't make as big a mark as any of these things should have.
