Bahraa Hijazi's courageous film, Abortion of the Soul, reflects the imprisonment of the Syrian people; her men are political prisoners and her women are prisoners of their own bodies. The film is also a vehicle to highlight women's issues, offering a feminist critique of communication and patriarchy. Hijazi is a young Syrian female director whose documentary focuses on the socio-political problems surrounding abortion in Damascus before the civil war and resulting mass displacement of Syrians. This short film emphasizes women's social alienation and reveals the process of exploitation surrounding pregnancy termination in Syria through a series of interviews with women and men who recount their varied experiences with abortion, sexual violence, shame, and imprisonment. Both Syrian women and men are oppressed as a result of living in a conservative system.
Abortion of the Soul includes a number of stories that illustrate the fears associated with abortion embedded in Syrian society: fear of pregnancy tests, fear of going to the pharmacy, fear of the police, fear of abuse, fear of dishonor, fear of the future. This fear is heightened by the confusion and agitation brought on by the economic burdens and the abuse of power of those from whom Syrian women seek help. For example, one woman is charged double the price by a male lab technician because she is unmarried, and the gynecologist threatens to sexually exploit her. Her story is punctuated by a growing sense of alienation, depression, and a distrust of society. Another woman focuses on the contradictions of a patriarchal society. Her husband demands she terminate her pregnancy and abuses her physically. When she escapes, her parents refuse to help her, believing that divorce dishonors the family. She finally returns to her husband's home to have the abortion where continued abuse is compounded by her feelings of guilt and pain.
Several male perspectives provide viewers with further insight into the anxiety and pain surrounding the issue of abortion. One male interviewee disparages the documentary's theme saying, “The international community is working on the Syrian case and we are making a movie about abortion or woman . . . [which] is irrelevant to our society.” This statement, highlights the complexity of the issue of abortion in Syria—women's equality and freedoms must be considered in the context of the greater national upheaval. At the same time, Hijazi demonstrates that harassment is not gender specific in Syria. For example, a man shares his story of abuse in prison following an arrest for filming the political protests and sharing the film footage with TV stations. In jail, he is beaten, humiliated, and brutally tortured and threatened with rape by the police. The abuse of power by those in charge has generated devastating situations for both women and men.
Hijazi interweaves interviews with images of a phantasmagoric, sepia-filtered landscape, reflecting the ineffectiveness of women's revolutionary fantasies in a broken system. This visual aspect adds a reddish-brown color to the representation of Damascus; resuscitates the space of phantom people conducting their daily lives; and illustrates the separation of these people from the lives of those who suffer from social pressure and depression. When combined with the interviews, the space functions as a critique of society's lack of social capital about women's issues: Phantom people cannot take responsibility for women's problems.
The juxtaposition between outdoor and indoor scenes indicates a disconnect between the community and its members. Hijazi shot the outdoor scenes from the back seat of a car, conditions in Syria being hostile to a woman with a camera. The framing of the streets with a fish eye lens creates a panoramic perversion of reality and reflects Hijazi's heuristic gaze. These outdoor scenes serve as a brief reprieve from the claustrophobic and hidden indoor interview spaces, conducted in bedrooms, the white sheets of women's beds paradoxically reflecting the source of their nightmares. These rooms lack light and liveliness, which, combined with the constant use of close-ups, emphasizes the emotional darkness of the hidden subjects. There is no communication between the people walking or working outside and those being interviewed inside. The construction implies the impossibility of social improvement because communication does not exist.
Hijazi does not supply the viewer with a resolution to the issue. The women indicate the need for a revolution in women's rights; however, Hijazi never visually shows women standing together or taking collective action. One women says, “The situation must change, I want to be able to talk freely about it. . . . You . . . must actually make a revolution about it.” Another woman says, “Our regime behaves like God, punishing us. . . Everybody lost [his or her] fear, even me. People are no longer afraid of this retribution. Retribution by someone who put himself as God-like.” Yet, both women tell their stories in darkness and secrecy.
Ultimately, Hijazi raises her voice and sheds light on a society cloaked in fear and discrimination. Abortion of the Soul deserves a space in the syllabi. It deserves to be considered along with other films debating abortion, including Tiller (2013) by Martha Shane and Lana Wilson, Vessel (2014) by Diana Whitten and After Abortion: Stories Women Tell (2016) by Tracy Droz Tragos. Moreover, the film along with Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait (2014) by Ossama Mohammed and Wiam Simav Bedirxan, which profiles a woman activist in Homs working on different issues, opens a window into recent gender politics in Syria.
