Lamya's Poem

The Syrian Civil War became big news in the early 2010s, with terrorist group ISIS taking over much of the country with the aim of overthrowing Bashar al-Assad's government. Large numbers of people fled the country, risking their lives to reach Europe.

Alex Kronemer's "Lamya's Poem" focuses on this. The protagonist is a girl living in besieged Aleppo. She takes inspiration from the writings of Persian poet Jalal al-Din Rumi, even as she and her mother flee the city following a bombing raid. I suspect that to most people in Aleppo, there was little if any difference between government forces and ISIS.*

I wouldn't call the movie a masterpiece, but it made clear what the people were going through, whether in their own country or in another. Moreover, it shows that animated features don't have to be "pleasant"; after all, animation is just another type of cinema. I don't know whether or not the movie is available on any streaming service, so you'll have to check the local video stores.

*This was a point raised in John Sayles's "Men with Guns": to the indigenous peoples in Latin America, there's no difference between the military juntas and the revolutionary forces.

As a father my two girls (10 and 13) and I keep rewatching this movie. It is a poem in and of itself, much like Rumi's work, addressing the core ills of the world and how to heal the heart and nurture the light inside us all.

I was afraid my 10 year old girl would miss the metaphors, be scared or not get the allusions made. But there was enough happening that she stuck through until the end. On the second watching I was able to help her see some more inner beauty in each scene. And so with each watching our appreciation grows. The beautiful exposition of deep meanings in this movie had my eyes uncontrollably filled with tears. Perhaps that also had an effect on my children. I could not hide my reactions from them. Thank you for making this film!! It is a treasure.

I first watched it myself and I suggest all parents do the same. It is a great film to raise your child on. But decide for yourself as a parent when your child is ready to watch and understand it.

This animated movie is simply a brilliant concept of addressing the humanitarian side of what refugees go through in their daily lives coupled with the background of the famous worldly poet Rumi.

It was interesting, yet nice to hear the voices of 3 generations of popular actors: Millie Davis who plays Lamya, Mena Massoud who plays Rumi and Faran Tahir who plays Rumi's father Baha Walad.

Children 10 ish and above should be able to handle the " monster element" Cleverly captured in an animation for family viewing teaching some lessons of good and evil, alongside compassion and hope.

Love it!!

The idea of merging what happened to jalal - aldain rumia ( who is an amazing poaet to me and a lot of arabs ) and what happend to lamia who is portarying the syrain children who lived the hardest lifes is amazing and i love the glimpse of syrian culture who i love and was raised upon thiere tv series so thats why syrain movies and tv series has special kind of longing for me the graphics are week but thats acceptel giving thats its an independent movie and i wished the movie was in the native arabian _ syrian language maybe they should of put subtitels for the non arabic speaking people i think that would've been better .

If I want to describe this movie in a word, I have to say: Nonsense! It had nothing to do with Rumi, Except just his name and the book whose cover has been shown to the audience thousands of times!! Regardless of all the incorrect information about this famous Persian-speaking poet.

The storyline was weak and loose. The characterization was almost awful. We can not identify with the main character of the film at all. At the same time, the rhythm of the film was very slow and boring.

Honestly, I couldn't finish it! (Time is gold!!)

To be fair, I just liked the music of the movie! That's all!