This Rain Will Never Stop (2020) Synopsis

Amidst a harsh landscape of burnt grass and shell-tarnished soil, 20 year-old Andriy Suleyman was born in Al-Hasakah, Syria, to a Kurdish father and a Ukrainian mother. In 2012 when Andriy was in the 9th grade, their family fled the civil war in Syria and resettled in Lysychansk, his mother's hometown in eastern Ukraine. But soon after they start their new lives, war catches up with the family again when a new conflict suddenly breaks out in Ukraine.With nowhere left to run, the family decides to remain and settle in Lysychansk, close to the front lines of increasingly violent armed confrontations. The city is a humanitarian disaster where explosions are heard regularly and the consequences of war are impossible to escape. In the shadow of parading soldiers and the endless stream of wounded fighters and displaced refugees, the local population attempts to maintain the semblance of normal life amid the fighting. Confronted with the reality of the constant suffering around him, Andriy decides to enlist as a Red Cross volunteer.Andriy's Red Cross missions in this new war zone become an important part of his life, at the expense of his previous ambitions to study at university. Andriy becomes increasingly torn between the call of a future in the civilian world and what he feels is his duty to the situation and people around him. His humanitarian assignments trigger painful memories of the devastating war in Syria, and he decides to end his romantic relationship with a Ukrainian colleague, bringing him close to total burnout.Meanwhile, Andriy's parents hope their son will immigrate to the West to pursue his education. Traveling to Germany to attend his brother's wedding, Andriy sees for himself the place his relatives portray as a 'Promised Land.' But instead of being convinced he should run away to Europe, he finds himself struggling to make sense of his choices. It seems impossible for him not to engage with the wars and events that shape his existence. Andriy is drawn back in the other direction to the Middle East, despite the increasingly fraught warnings of worsening destruction and devastation conveyed over phone calls with relatives still there.Arriving in Iraq where his family now lives on the biggest Kurdish holiday of Novruz, Andriy meets uncles and aunts he has not seen for eight years. In a collective emotional catharsis, they finally share their stories and catch up on all the lost years. Andriy's uncle, a doctor, is also tending to those wounded in battle. Andriy attempts to make it into Syria, but this time it's natural disaster in the form of a flood that prevents him from crossing the border.As Andriy struggles to decide where to turn next, his father dies suddenly of cancer. The grief stricken family transfers his body from Ukraine back to his native land, and Andriy decides he will accompany his father on his very last journey back to Syria. After laying his father to rest at the Iraqi-Syrian border, Andriy will be left with the ultimate choice: escaping to Germany, like his family hopes, or returning to Ukraine to continue fighting the war machine scarring so many lives, lands and destinies like his.From Ukraine, to Syria and Iraq and Germany, Andriy and his family seek a place to belong and a sense of connection, to transcend the harrowing events of the past and find their path in a world where the flow of people, violence, and dreams feels ever changing yet eternal.

Amidst a harsh landscape of burnt grass and shell-tarnished soil, 20 year-old Andriy Suleyman was born in Al-Hasakah, Syria, to a Kurdish father and a Ukrainian mother. In 2012 when Andriy was in the 9th grade, their family fled the civil war in Syria and resettled in Lysychansk, his mother's hometown in eastern Ukraine. But soon after they start their new lives, war catches up with the family again when a new conflict suddenly breaks out in Ukraine.With nowhere left to run, the family decides to remain and settle in Lysychansk, close to the front lines of increasingly violent armed confrontations. The city is a humanitarian disaster where explosions are heard regularly and the consequences of war are impossible to escape. In the shadow of parading soldiers and the endless stream of wounded fighters and displaced refugees, the local population attempts to maintain the semblance of normal life amid the fighting. Confronted with the reality of the constant suffering around him, Andriy decides to enlist as a Red Cross volunteer.Andriy's Red Cross missions in this new war zone become an important part of his life, at the expense of his previous ambitions to study at university. Andriy becomes increasingly torn between the call of a future in the civilian world and what he feels is his duty to the situation and people around him. His humanitarian assignments trigger painful memories of the devastating war in Syria, and he decides to end his romantic relationship with a Ukrainian colleague, bringing him close to total burnout.Meanwhile, Andriy's parents hope their son will immigrate to the West to pursue his education. Traveling to Germany to attend his brother's wedding, Andriy sees for himself the place his relatives portray as a 'Promised Land.' But instead of being convinced he should run away to Europe, he finds himself struggling to make sense of his choices. It seems impossible for him not to engage with the wars and events that shape his existence. Andriy is drawn back in the other direction to the Middle East, despite the increasingly fraught warnings of worsening destruction and devastation conveyed over phone calls with relatives still there.Arriving in Iraq where his family now lives on the biggest Kurdish holiday of Novruz, Andriy meets uncles and aunts he has not seen for eight years. In a collective emotional catharsis, they finally share their stories and catch up on all the lost years. Andriy's uncle, a doctor, is also tending to those wounded in battle. Andriy attempts to make it into Syria, but this time it's natural disaster in the form of a flood that prevents him from crossing the border.As Andriy struggles to decide where to turn next, his father dies suddenly of cancer. The grief stricken family transfers his body from Ukraine back to his native land, and Andriy decides he will accompany his father on his very last journey back to Syria. After laying his father to rest at the Iraqi-Syrian border, Andriy will be left with the ultimate choice: escaping to Germany, like his family hopes, or returning to Ukraine to continue fighting the war machine scarring so many lives, lands and destinies like his.From Ukraine, to Syria and Iraq and Germany, Andriy and his family seek a place to belong and a sense of connection, to transcend the harrowing events of the past and find their path in a world where the flow of people, violence, and dreams feels ever changing yet eternal.

Published Time: 2022-10-07 04:38:31