Episode 706 - The Cave (2019)

Hi everyone!

We’re in the final stretch for the Oscar season! Instead of the usual Takeover Tuesday episodes for the next two weeks, we’re going to take the slot each week for two important things. First, we’re going to catchup on the Oscar nominees (and potential winners). We’re down to just four more we haven’t reviewed yet, which is a much better place than last year. More importantly, however, is the second thing we’re doing, which is introducing Jon-David, aka the Mafia Hairdresser, as a regular contributor at One Movie Punch.

It’s funny, when I sent out the e-mail to our usual network of participants for First Quarter Takeover Tuesday reviews, he was the first to reply. And after the Oscar nominees were announced, I sent a list of films we hadn’t yet reviewed to see if anyone would pick them up. He asked me when they had to be done. I gave him a deadline and asked which ones. He said all of them. Of course, that’s not really fair to the other critics, so we negotiated down to the two for this month, and many more for the future. His promo for the Mafia Hairdresser Chronicles, his audio drama podcast, will run before the review.

Speaking of Takeover Tuesday, do you think you have what it takes to guest on One Movie Punch? Head over to onemoviepunch.com/takeover-tuesday and learn more about how you can guest here at One Movie Punch. We still have five (5) slots available this quarter for aspiring and established film critics to take the reins for an episode. We’ll run your promo before the review and will place it in regular rotation for the quarter. If it sounds like something interesting to you, reach out to us over social media.

Subscribe to stay current with the latest releases.

Contribute at Patreon for exclusive content.

Connect with us over social media to continue the conversation.

Here we go!

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<< MAFIA HAIRDRESSER PROMO >>

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Hello, this Jon-David aka Mafia Hairdresser, the writer and performer of the podcast The Mafia Hairdresser Chronicles, a campy crime comedy based on my time working for a Hollywood cocaine trafficking couple in the 80s.

Today’s movie is THE CAVE(2019), the documentary film from Feras Fayyad. THE CAVE is a narration-free, eye-of-the-storm view of the life of six years in the life of Dr. Amani, the female head of a hospital built, carved, and constructed, epicly, in criss-crossing tunnels under the city of Al Ghouta, Syria, during the war and the use of chemicals against her people.

The film opens. No sound. No music. Just a city. Al Ghouta, Syria. A bomb goes off. Clouds of smoke. Another bomb. Smoke. Bombs. Smoke. Bombs.

This film was shot at great peril to Fayyad and his team of camera people. They shot over one thousand hours of film, following the doctors as they tended to the wounded citizens, besieged victims of bombings, the intended victims of genocide via chlorine bombs.

Between 2012 to 2018, over the time this documentary was filmed, the underground hospital that was filmed, was maintained and built, and constantly rebuilt by engineers and construction workers for the medical professionals made up of doctors, volunteers, and med and nurse students. The close ups of a few of Dr. Amani’s co-workers show that they are all just trying to save the lives of their people from extinction. But it is a scene where Dr. Amani has a human moment to herself, after years of saving lives, bombs coming down on her, experiencing death over and over, that really show how amazing a person she is.

This film shows us tragedy and war, and what it was like for these Syrian people under the Bashar al-Assad regime and his Russian allies. But we also get to see that there are people who exist who are so good and they will stay and help their own people. Against odds. At their own peril. Day after day. Year after year. To see this film and to know Dr. Amani is to know that there is pure goodness in the world. It exists. And we can all sleep a little better knowing that; even if Dr. Amani and her team may never have a night of sleep without nightmares of the world that they have had to experience.

Of course, I was emotional when I saw the suffering of so many lovely, sweet, innocent children in this documentary. But I was touched, deeply, seeing Dr. Amani, no matter how rushed, or emotionally crushed she was, how she would comfort every child that crossed her path. She took the moment to put her face close to the face of each child. She kissed them. She whispered prayer, love, and hope with her breath and her words and her mouth, from her soul.

Dr. Amani was the main reason so many lives were saved, and the figurehead of strength that kept the life-saving underground hospital going for as long as it did. What I found infuriating was that, even as she managed her female and male medical colleagues competently, with grace, under extreme pressure, that she had to deal with this outright sexism and archaic ways of life her own people still clung to. Babies and children were starving in the city above “The Cave” Hospital. Women had to sneak out of their homes to come to the hospital to receive food and medicine for their malnourished babies. And all because their husbands would not allow their wives to work and provide. The men would rather let their own children die than let their wives be able to work. Dr. Amani helped any mother and child that she could, and, many times, for good reason, without the father’s knowledge.

Above ground, over the tunnels that made up the hospital, there was war, hypocrisy, misogyny, sexism and outright abuse of women. All over Al Ghouta there was regime propaganda. But, in the tunnels, the women and men who worked together had formed a society worth fighting for. The women, the volunteers, the men doctors, the lady helpers, the patients, old and young, male and female: All were equal. All were worth fighting for. All were worth saving. There are several scenes in this film of the men and women who worked in the underground hospital, joking with each other, comforting each other.

THE CAVEis a documentary by Feras Fayyad, a Syrian film director/filmmaker who was nominated for Best Documentary Film Feature for LAST MEN IN ALEPPO, a 2017 film about the Syrian Civil War, also an unflinching, captivating, and sometimes uncomfortable film. THE CAVE is also nominated for an Academy Award in this same category.

The Cave has no narration. Just real people. The real heroes and their own voices, subtitled for viewers, and available in many languages. At the end of the documentary, Fayyad gives you a few more facts about the hospital and what has happened to the lives of those shown in the film.

In post research, I found that the life and passion of Feras Fayyad, regarding the making of this film, to be fascinating, if not harrowing. I invite you to learn more about this courageous director and you can start by going to Variety.com and read the Jan 4th, 2020 article written about him.

Rotten Tomatoes: 96% (CERTIFIED FRESH)

Metacritic: 83 (MUST SEE)

One Movie Punch: 9.0/10

You can stream THE CAVE now on Amazon Prime, Fandango Now, Apple TV and VUDU.

This is Jon-David, aka Mafia Hairdresser, for One Movie Punch.

Hi everyone!

We’re in the final stretch for the Oscar season! Instead of the usual Takeover Tuesday episodes for the next two weeks, we’re going to take the slot each week for two important things. First, we’re going to catchup on the Oscar nominees (and potential winners). We’re down to just four more we haven’t reviewed yet, which is a much better place than last year. More importantly, however, is the second thing we’re doing, which is introducing Jon-David, aka the Mafia Hairdresser, as a regular contributor at One Movie Punch.

It’s funny, when I sent out the e-mail to our usual network of participants for First Quarter Takeover Tuesday reviews, he was the first to reply. And after the Oscar nominees were announced, I sent a list of films we hadn’t yet reviewed to see if anyone would pick them up. He asked me when they had to be done. I gave him a deadline and asked which ones. He said all of them. Of course, that’s not really fair to the other critics, so we negotiated down to the two for this month, and many more for the future. His promo for the Mafia Hairdresser Chronicles, his audio drama podcast, will run before the review.

Speaking of Takeover Tuesday, do you think you have what it takes to guest on One Movie Punch? Head over to onemoviepunch.com/takeover-tuesday and learn more about how you can guest here at One Movie Punch. We still have five (5) slots available this quarter for aspiring and established film critics to take the reins for an episode. We’ll run your promo before the review and will place it in regular rotation for the quarter. If it sounds like something interesting to you, reach out to us over social media.

Subscribe to stay current with the latest releases.

Contribute at Patreon for exclusive content.

Connect with us over social media to continue the conversation.

Here we go!

/////

>

/////

Hello, this Jon-David aka Mafia Hairdresser, the writer and performer of the podcast The Mafia Hairdresser Chronicles, a campy crime comedy based on my time working for a Hollywood cocaine trafficking couple in the 80s.

Today’s movie is THE CAVE(2019), the documentary film from Feras Fayyad. THE CAVE is a narration-free, eye-of-the-storm view of the life of six years in the life of Dr. Amani, the female head of a hospital built, carved, and constructed, epicly, in criss-crossing tunnels under the city of Al Ghouta, Syria, during the war and the use of chemicals against her people.

The film opens. No sound. No music. Just a city. Al Ghouta, Syria. A bomb goes off. Clouds of smoke. Another bomb. Smoke. Bombs. Smoke. Bombs.

This film was shot at great peril to Fayyad and his team of camera people. They shot over one thousand hours of film, following the doctors as they tended to the wounded citizens, besieged victims of bombings, the intended victims of genocide via chlorine bombs.

Between 2012 to 2018, over the time this documentary was filmed, the underground hospital that was filmed, was maintained and built, and constantly rebuilt by engineers and construction workers for the medical professionals made up of doctors, volunteers, and med and nurse students. The close ups of a few of Dr. Amani’s co-workers show that they are all just trying to save the lives of their people from extinction. But it is a scene where Dr. Amani has a human moment to herself, after years of saving lives, bombs coming down on her, experiencing death over and over, that really show how amazing a person she is.

This film shows us tragedy and war, and what it was like for these Syrian people under the Bashar al-Assad regime and his Russian allies. But we also get to see that there are people who exist who are so good and they will stay and help their own people. Against odds. At their own peril. Day after day. Year after year. To see this film and to know Dr. Amani is to know that there is pure goodness in the world. It exists. And we can all sleep a little better knowing that; even if Dr. Amani and her team may never have a night of sleep without nightmares of the world that they have had to experience.

Of course, I was emotional when I saw the suffering of so many lovely, sweet, innocent children in this documentary. But I was touched, deeply, seeing Dr. Amani, no matter how rushed, or emotionally crushed she was, how she would comfort every child that crossed her path. She took the moment to put her face close to the face of each child. She kissed them. She whispered prayer, love, and hope with her breath and her words and her mouth, from her soul.

Dr. Amani was the main reason so many lives were saved, and the figurehead of strength that kept the life-saving underground hospital going for as long as it did. What I found infuriating was that, even as she managed her female and male medical colleagues competently, with grace, under extreme pressure, that she had to deal with this outright sexism and archaic ways of life her own people still clung to. Babies and children were starving in the city above “The Cave” Hospital. Women had to sneak out of their homes to come to the hospital to receive food and medicine for their malnourished babies. And all because their husbands would not allow their wives to work and provide. The men would rather let their own children die than let their wives be able to work. Dr. Amani helped any mother and child that she could, and, many times, for good reason, without the father’s knowledge.

Above ground, over the tunnels that made up the hospital, there was war, hypocrisy, misogyny, sexism and outright abuse of women. All over Al Ghouta there was regime propaganda. But, in the tunnels, the women and men who worked together had formed a society worth fighting for. The women, the volunteers, the men doctors, the lady helpers, the patients, old and young, male and female: All were equal. All were worth fighting for. All were worth saving. There are several scenes in this film of the men and women who worked in the underground hospital, joking with each other, comforting each other.

THE CAVEis a documentary by Feras Fayyad, a Syrian film director/filmmaker who was nominated for Best Documentary Film Feature for LAST MEN IN ALEPPO, a 2017 film about the Syrian Civil War, also an unflinching, captivating, and sometimes uncomfortable film. THE CAVE is also nominated for an Academy Award in this same category.

The Cave has no narration. Just real people. The real heroes and their own voices, subtitled for viewers, and available in many languages. At the end of the documentary, Fayyad gives you a few more facts about the hospital and what has happened to the lives of those shown in the film.

In post research, I found that the life and passion of Feras Fayyad, regarding the making of this film, to be fascinating, if not harrowing. I invite you to learn more about this courageous director and you can start by going to Variety.com and read the Jan 4th, 2020 article written about him.

Rotten Tomatoes: 96% (CERTIFIED FRESH)

Metacritic: 83 (MUST SEE)

One Movie Punch: 9.0/10

You can stream THE CAVE now on Amazon Prime, Fandango Now, Apple TV and VUDU.

This is Jon-David, aka Mafia Hairdresser, for One Movie Punch.