Among the most intriguing titles in the latest edition of Alice nella Città is Pietro Malegori’s debut feature Shukran, based on the novel of the same name by Giovanni Terzi. The film, distributed by Eagle Pictures, was in theaters from July 8 to 10. Shukran tells the story of the conflict in Syria, torn apart by civil war (recreated in Puglia for the filming), through the perspective of a pediatric heart surgeon who saved thousands of children during the war. The film stars Shahab Hosseini, a prominent figure in Iranian cinema, known for his roles in Asghar Farhadi’s Silver Bear-winning film “A Separation” and “The Salesman,” for which Hosseini won the Best Actor award at Cannes. Hosseini has also been acclaimed for his performance in Farhadi’s earlier work, “About Elly”.

It is uncommon for an Italian debut film to be set in the war-torn Middle East, which already sets “Shukran” apart as a notable first feature from Malegori, following his short films Sons of Tibet and Free Town. While the death toll in another devastated corner of the Middle East, Palestine, continues to rise (with over 37,000 deaths, mostly women and children, due to the Israeli military offensive in Gaza), Malegori’s film takes us back to the conflict in Syria after the 2011 uprisings to overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad. The story of the protagonist, Dr. Taher Haider, a pediatric heart surgeon inspired by the real-life Dr. Tammam Youssef, is narrated by Giovanni Terzi in the book Shukran, meaning “thank you” in Arabic. It serves as an exhortation to peace over the desire for revenge. It tells a particularly emblematic episode in the life of Youssef/Haider, committed to saving the lives of children in the country at war: one of whom turns out to be the son of the jihadist who carried out an attack in which the doctor’s brother was killed.

Watch the official trailer of Shukran on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MShZrlMqGmE&t=91s

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Original source: Ciak Magazine, Italy