Thursday in Periscope, our columnist Jean-Philippe Balasse tells us the touching story of a Syrian father whose video moved internet users around the world. The detonations of the bombs become a game between the father and his 4 year old daughter. A story reminiscent of the moving film by Roberto Benigni, "Life is beautiful".

Since its publication on social networks, the video has gone viral. We see a father and daughter there somewhere in Syria. A four-year-old girl standing on the sofa in her father's arms. The latter films them both with his mobile phone. Very accomplices, they whisper as if they were preparing a bad joke. In reality it is an explosion which they await. There is bombing outside. The little girl's reaction to this muffled bang is ... a burst of laughter, cascading.

Make war a game

It was his father who taught him this reflex. Since his daughter had only known war, he decided to make it a game. In order not to traumatize her, he established this little ritual. This true story reminds us of a film, released just over 20 years ago, by Roberto Benigni, L a vie est belle .

A Syrian father makes his daughter believe that the bombs of Putin and Assad that rain on Idlib are part of a game and that we must laugh at each detonation. The laughter of Salwa, 3 years old, contains all the life and all the tears of the world. pic.twitter.com/rFuZrVoCRv

- Raphael Glucksmann (@ rglucks1) February 19, 2020

Many internet users make the parallel with this film, which tells the story of a father sent to a concentration camp with his son. So that his little boy is not afraid, the character will transform the concentration camp into a summer camp, with a treasure hunt whose first prize would be a tank.

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Since the video was released, journalists have found the father and his daughter. The latest news (Thursday morning) is good, but the family is still not safe, like the rest of the Syrian population.