
Insyriated
Director: Philippe van Leeuw
Country: Belgium
Running Time: 85′
London Premiere
Year: 2017
An ordinary family go through the most nightmarish of ordeals in Insyriated, veteran Belgian cinematographer Phillipe Van Leeuw’s politicised take on the home invasion thriller. Focusing on a well-to-do, middle class Syrian family – an antidote to the brand of Middle Eastern characters typically making it onto the big screen – Van Leeuw’s film unfolds over a single day inside a spacious apartment, as a family find that the civil war has arrived at their doorstep. Gripping, claustrophobic and unbearably tense, the drama is held together by towering performances from lead actors Hiam Abbas and Diamand Bou Abboud. An utterly gripping account of a household under siege.
