A Reaction to the Reactions to Saher il-Lail
I’m probably inviting drama onto myself by saying this but, why in the world is everyone treating Saher il-Lail like a big, Iraq VS. Kuwait boxing match?
Look, I’ve watched the entire Saher il-Lail (Watan il-Nahar) series this Ramadan and I’m going to say this right off the bat: it was freaking phenomenal. Really, it was a work of great production value, promising writing, and included some very talented members among its cast. Sure, it had some technical slips (Oh my God! A PLASMA!), but, nitpicking aside, it was still a very worthy and admirable effort which was geared towards creating a real and positive change in the minds of its viewers.
And, from what I could figure, the change that Saher il-Lail was trying to accomplish was this: a sense of unity, pride, and respect for all those who have suffered the various forms of trauma and pain which the unjust and brutal Iraqi invasion of Kuwait had created in a countless number of souls who’s stories deserve to be reflected.
Saher il-Lail was not set out to demonize a whole nation or to make it okay for racists and bigots to start cropping up from under the ground. Anyone who uses Saher il-Lail as an excuse to fling insults and racist remarks against Iraqis or Kuwaitis or ANY nationality insults the noble effort behind which this television show was created. It’s not nationalism or pride, its freaking racism. And if you say its not, then you’ll be happy to know that you’ve just revealed your cards.
That said, I’m not belittling any of the war crimes which occurred upon the hands of the Iraqi military or the brutality that was used during the invasion. The reality is that, to whatever extent anyone would like to admit, the events that were portrayed in Saher il-Lail were inspired by similarly traumatizing experiences which real people went through during that horrible time. I’m not a historian nor was I really there at the time of the invasion (I was in Kuwait but I was one), but I know that not only is it useless to try and deny that certain atrocities really were committed, but that its also quite insulting to the history of Kuwait to do so.
Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis alike suffered greatly due to the ramifications of the unjust, aggressive, and, at times, murderous Iraqi invasion. This is simply a fact of history and there is no debating it.
But, let’s all get this straight: Saher il-Lail is not a documentary. Its a television show. A television show that had a lot of integrity, national respect, and honest work behind it. But still a television show.
That means that we need to take into consideration the fact that, like any network television show, stylistic drama is always involved. There needs to be a hook for audiences to attach themselves to so that they remain invested in the show for the entire month. In that respect, Saher il-Lail, like every other historic TV show to ever appear on television, is also concerned with purposefully creating empathy for certain characters and disdain for others. Every single television show under the sun is built with the same concept in mind. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, its the right way to make a successful and great TV show which is actually worth watching.
You’d think that this aspect of Saher il-Lail (that its not a documentary) would allow people to just enjoy it for what it is: a good television show that re-ignited a sense of unity and respect for national history.
Yet, for some insane reason, a whole lot of people are taking it as if it were a direct assault on all the Iraqi people or treating it like a piece of historical evidence. Serious news channels are having shouting debates about it; sending people out in the field to get counter-reactions from Iraqi people; and just basically taking everything that is beautiful out of it.
And now, all of a sudden, its just a big Iraq VS. Kuwait title match! I’ve seen nasty Youtube response videos, read hateful tweets, and just a whirlwind of racist backlash from BOTH sides and I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why.
It’s a television show. For some people it brings back bitter memories. For others its interesting and new. And for a whole other group, its just not their cup of tea. It’s not a groundbreaking, historical documentation which can be used as some kind of legitimate argument ammo about current or past politics. You can’t cite Saher il-Lail in a freaking history essay thesis.
Its simply a television show written from the creative perspective of a Kuwaiti family during a time of war which was, undeniably, difficult and traumatizing.
If you like it, keep watching and enjoy it. If you don’t, just turn the freaking channel.
All my love! (P.S. Eid Mubarak everyone!)
Eidech mbarak, thank you for taking the time to write about this! I’ve been putting it off myself.
My issues with the show are quite different.
A) I thought the show was poorly written with weak dialogues as well as elementary “mistakes” and stylistic choices that could have been better. There should be no room for sloppiness with a show of this magnitude.
B) Why embellish? There is nothing more powerful than a real story. All it takes is a little bit of oral history and recording first hand experiences. If the writer and researchers did not have the time to do that, then they should not have rushed the project.
Those aside, I think it was about time someone presented something about the invasion. Why not talk about it? If we pretend those horrific months did not take place how will we ever learn? History is meant to be recorded; artists, actors and directors are meant to have a reaction. Although I did not watch Saher Al-Lail closely, all I keep saying is: FINALLY.
Hmm.
Well, I’m not saying that I think Saher il-Lail is on par with the stylistic and writing ability of a Martin Scorsese biopic. What I am saying is that, for the effort that it displayed, the writing was promising enough in that it was able to both sufficiently portray the effects of the war on civilians without completely losing track of plot structures and character build-ups. Stylistically I think all of Arab television has a way to go before it can start to match up with its international peers, but, again, Saher il-Lail was hardly as much of an insufferable crap-bag as a lot of the other TV shows that ran this Ramadan.
Because Saher il-Lail was able to rather sufficiently, while perhaps not fully, reflect these horrible times that sorely need to be reflected and remembered, I excused some of these failings and honestly found it quite awesome (“phenomenal,” even).
As far as some of the over-embellishment goes, I honestly have no barometer as to how much of it was overdone and how much was true to historical experience. I can’t say whether it was over the top or not, all I can is that it was insanely dramatic which is pretty much in keeping with the fact that it was, well, a network television drama.
I don’t take any issue with people (directors, actors, audiences, whomever) reacting to Saher il-Lail and discussing it in public forums. That’s all well and good and totally encouraged. I take issue with the unbelievably racist backlash of reactions that have resulted by people who have watched Saher il-Lail and seem to have gotten it in their heads that it is a real, historic documentation NOT A DRAMATIC TV SHOW.
Many people are using it as carte blanche to start up national tensions and to make grossly racist comments on both sides as if it was justified by their sense of “Arab Pride.”
Saher il-Lail should have no bearing on political discussions or on discussions that concern historical evidence or consistency. And yet those are exactly the kinds of discussions it keeps getting brought up in.