In Iowa: Shared humanity evident in Oscar-nominated documentaries

Sunday is the Oscars, and as usual I have seen very few of the nominated films. Mostly because I primarily spend my movie dollars on superhero films. What can I say? I enjoy the distraction from the chaos that seems to make up current events these days.

But a week ago I stepped outside my normal viewing habits for a screening of the Oscar-nominated short documentary films at FilmScene in Iowa City. And there I found real life superheros.

Three of the five documentaries were about Syria. The first, '4.1 miles,” followed a Greek coast guard captain as he rescued migrants from drowning in the 4 miles of sea that separate Turkey and the Greek island of Lesbos. Four miles seems like a short distance, but for desperate souls crowded onto flimsy rubber boats, it is a treacherous crossing.

The United Nations Refugee Agency estimated that in 2015 alone, the year the documentary was made, more than a million people crossed this way from Turkey to Europe. Almost 4,000 of them drowned.

The captain didn't sign up for this job. Before Syria's civil war sent that country's citizens fleeing for their lives, his work was simple and peaceful, he told the filmmakers. But now he has a choice - act or watch children and parents drown before his eyes.

The second documentary, 'Watani: My Homeland,” follows four Syrian children and their mother as they make the decision to leave their country after the father, a commander in the Free Syrian Army, is captured and likely killed by the Islamic State terrorists. They flee first to Turkey and then to Germany, where the mother longs for her husband and the home she left behind. She is doing this, she tells the filmmakers, for her children.

Her youngest daughters can tell by sound whether a bomb came from a tank. Later, when they are safely in Turkey, one of them screams and cowers behind a bush as a plane flies overhead, sure it will drop bombs on them.

As the family arrives in their new German town, the mother remarks in wonder, 'Not a single shelled house.” Her children enroll in school, make friends and learn German. They don't cower from planes anymore.

The third film, 'The White Helmets,” tells the story of Syrian volunteers who rescue those trapped after bombs level their homes and businesses. Known as the Syrian Civil Defense, they come from all walks of life and maintain neutrality - their mission is to rescue as many lives as possible, regardless of what side of the conflict the injured are on. It is dangerous work - more than 150 have been killed - but they report saving more than 70,000 people.

The documentary shows both their triumphs, such as rescuing a baby from a pile of rubble after 16 hours of digging, and their tragedies, such as when one of the volunteers learns his brother was killed by a bomb. But they continue in their mission, undaunted, living by their motto, taken from the Quran: 'To save a life is to save all of humanity.”

I don't know which of the Oscar nominees will win Sunday night, but I hope people will take a few minutes to view at least one. 'The White Helmets” is on Netflix, and '4.1 Miles” is available on the New York Times website.

They are reminders of our shared humanity, of the fact we are much more alike than we are different. Syrian or American, we are all trying to survive in this world and provide better lives for our loved ones.

And, as in the case of the Greek boat captain and the Syrian White Helmets, some are working to help strangers survive as well. We should emulate them.

l Comments: (319) 398-8434; alison.gowans@thegazette.com