The Syrian series “Kisar Azam 2 - Catacombs” achieved acceptable success in the Ramadan 2024 season (social networking sites)

It was clear that what the Syrian public needed this year were works that did not turn their backs on people’s pain, pain, and minor issues, as it would not be useful for the audience to watch excessive doses of violence, nor fantasy tournaments that approximate the Levantine environment in terms of the form borrowed from previous works, nor the memories of retired dancers. Not even the dull reproduction of the famous “Spot of Light” series in a work that abandons the Syrian environment in order to accomplish a drama whose loftiest ambitions are to pass by without being pursued by critical pens with harsh comments.

Community concern daily leaves opportunities for dramatic proposals that may be able to keep up with the deteriorating service situation and people lining up in queues to collect diesel, gas, bread, and means of transportation. Thus, the crisis reality still far precedes any narrative imagination, translated into shocking incidents: such as a father killing his children and then committing suicide in the Damascus countryside, because he did not find a way to live in the country. Often, a season that does not take that man as an example to weave its story and present it to people will not be relied upon.

Despite all this, there are works that have gained popular demand and sparked controversy, while other works have fallen below expectations, at least in terms of the popularity they could have achieved, including: “Break the Bone 2 - Catacombs,” which appeared two years ago under the signature of Ali Saleh, writer, and Rasha Sharbatji, director. Produced by Clacket Media - Iyad Al-Najjar, and starring Fayez Qazaq, Khaled Al-Qish, Nadine Tahseen Bey, Karis Bashar, and a group of young actors.

“Break a Bone” builds on the success of the first part

Promotional poster for the Syrian series “Break a Bone 2 – Basements” (social networking sites)

Kasr Azam was then able to capture the street in a clear way because it knew how to start the game from a high dramatic climax, and shocked the viewer with a major event instead of paving the way and wasting essential time. The work was then able to attract the viewer's attention. He was able to catch him from the first moments by proposing a suspenseful key, and then escalating towards hidden areas that carried the possibility of infiltrating the fortified dens of corruption! While the reliance was on the succession of the detective story and the tight acting performance.

Indeed, the public success of the work continued, with critical attention, until the end of the show and after it, which prompted the producing company to try to capitalize on its success by completing a second part that would be shown the following year. But the surprise was when the writer and director withdrew from the work and made a public statement about it, so the producing party proceeded with its project with the help of... With the second director of the first part, Kenan Iskandarani, and two young writers: Hilal Ahmed and Rand Hadid.

Then I started filming in Lebanon, without getting into any quarrels with the censorship in Syria, considering that the first part sparked controversy and attracted attention in a crude way. Due to some production obstacles, the series was unable to complete its completion plan, so filming began for this season. He filmed the remaining scenes in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and returned to see the light on satellite channels, most notably Abu Dhabi and LBC.

Despite not achieving the levels of viewership and interaction that it achieved in its first part, and the passage of its first episodes at a relatively slow pace, it succeeded in formulating a new story that relied on modern characters, without abandoning one of the elements of its popular success in the first part, that is, the character of Abu Maryam (Karam Al-Shaarani), and then he left. Towards re-passing the previous characters according to the context of the story, which assumes that corruption has a long chain of action and cannot be eradicated.

Then it tries to approach the reality that the Syrian citizen lives in and his crushed service conditions through a set of life dialogues that go side by side in parallel with the operations of elimination and mafia conflicts, and storming forbidden areas in the manner of free and frank disclosure that is marred by abandoning symbolization and meaning, but with excessive directness that is considered a pitfall in some. Sometimes.

Although the idea of ​​the work reaching the screen despite its makers abandoning it is considered a positive point in favor of the work, its story may have lacked a comprehensive treatment that would deepen the dramatic solutions and increase the suspenseful state on which this type of work is built. The embodied performance of some of the story's actors remains a milestone for the series.

“Taj” excelled in humanizing characters

The series “Taj” is one of the most prominent Syrian series shown in Ramadan 2024 (social networking sites)

On the other hand, despite the divided opinions about the series “Taj” (Omar Abu Saada and Samer Al-Barqawi), it succeeded in portraying an impressive historical stage that Syrian drama had previously saturated with various experiences.

However, the series enjoys a high level of privacy, due to several factors, the last of which may be the story that begins in the 1940s in Syria, which was then under the control of the French occupation, and especially because it succeeds in formulating a political cover that gives it a documentary dimension and suspenseful value to the story of the boxer Taj al-Din al-Hammal, who... He decided to immerse himself in the national struggle against the colonialists, with an impressive production effort at the level of decoration, costumes, and artistic elements that were specially built, and tipped the balance of the work at the technical level, and also constituted an added value to the dramatic material and placed it at the forefront of the Syrian scene, as the artistic team excelled in restoring that luxurious era. With political wealth, and a succession of parallel social events in Syria.

After clear research into the historical stage, the work provides an archive and a mixture of documentation and enjoyable viewing of the time period that it approaches according to a sober visual point of view that contains high aesthetic features.

The supposed time of the television novel takes place several years before Syria's independence from French colonialism, while the core story is Taj al-Din al-Hammal (Tim Hassan), a boxer who suffers losses not in the boxing ring, but in the field of life.

In addition to his strength and ability to defeat anyone he faces in the ring, and his success in getting married to the girl of his dreams, Nouran (Faya Younan), and they begin the journey of establishing a warm family, without abandoning his involvement with national secret groups that carry out specific operations against the occupation, the turning point in his life will be when he is assigned By liquidating the senior French general, Jules, who was influential in Damascus.

But the plan fails, and the occupying forces surprise the revolutionaries who manage to escape... and it will not be long until the smoke of the snitch, supervised by Riad Bey (Bassam Koussa), reaches the place where the group prepares its ammunition and weapons and is liquidated, so that the finger of blame is directed at Taj for not being present at the place with the French forces. .

Taj's self-esteem and his rejection of the accusation of treason make him refuse to defend himself in front of his countrymen and his comrades in the struggle. Here begins his series of failures and collapses that last for 5 years, as we find him addicted to alcohol and a gambler, dragging the tails of his losses, and involved in raising his daughter alone after his wife left him and became involved with the rich Damascene tailor Riad Bey himself.

Of course, the reason given for the hero’s defeat and staggering is not convincing, nor is it a sufficient justification for his collapse in this way. Rather, it is merely a storyteller’s compliance with the intention of completing the story and escalating it towards the position it aspires to. Also, not translating the French dialogues in the first five episodes is considered an unforgivable lapse. As he returns, the work searches for unexpected climaxes and the hero falls into the grip of the occupier until the sun of independence shines.

Finally, the Syrian series records a bright spot that clearly distinguishes it, which is the humanization of the script for all the characters and removing the aura of holiness from them if they are good, as well as the attention paid to the bright sides of the evil characters, even if they represent the colonizers.

The heroes of the story can exploit a girl to kidnap a French officer from a Syrian mother with the intention of liberating one of the rebels, while Agent Riad (Bassam Koussa) shows rare strength and boldness, contrary to what has been repeatedly reported about such characters of cowardice and fear.

Source: Al Jazeera