The Burdened star: Painful Yemeni film resonates with realities and repercussions of war

Lead actress Abeer Mohammed plays a woman who has a daunting decision to make with her husband, whose principles are being distorted by the consequences of conflict

The Burdened was Yemen's official entry at this year's Oscars and has been picking up awards on the international film festival circuit. Photo: Mad Solutions

For Abeer Mohammed, extricating herself from Israa, the character she portrays in the Yemeni film The Burdened, was a difficult and borderline traumatic process.

The film revolves around a family in Aden who are caught in the thorny dilemma between defying their religious values and having to adapt to the economic suffering incurred by the war in Yemen. The story’s plot was anxiously close to home and caused Mohammed to ruminate on the hardships she and many in her home city were facing.

“For people who are caught in a deteriorating economy, there is no delight in sitting and speaking about your feelings,” Mohammed says at the Amman International Film Festival, where it recently screened. “Feelings and emotions become a luxury. The only thing you’re thinking about is securing food and necessities for yourself and your family. And then you go to sleep, just to wake up to the same blender the next day.”

Though the actress had moved to Egypt in the years before The Burdened was filmed in Aden in 2021, moving back and embodying the character of Israa had caused her to explore those emotions head-on. “When we started making the film, I felt we were privileged to have the opportunity to express these hardships,” Mohammed says.

Directed by Amr Gamal, The Burdened is based on a true story. It tells of a couple who become pregnant with their fourth child but, already facing difficulties in meeting their daily needs, decide to seek an abortion. Mohammed plays the mother, Israa, acting opposite Khaled Hamdan, who is the husband, Ahmad. Their relationship has become caustic over the years as a result of their daily struggles. The film explores how identities warp and change in the face of conflict and how people begin to act out in ways that they never thought they would.

The Burdened has been a festival favourite worldwide. It has won 13 awards so far, including the Gold Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival, the jury award at the Malmo Arab Film Festival, as well as the Golden Palm at the Saudi Film Festival. Mohammed herself won best actress at the event. While the film has been officially dubbed The Burdened in English, its original Arabic title Al Murhaqun translates to "the exhausted", adding perhaps another layer of significance to the film’s focus.

“The war distorted us, it changed our ethics,” Mohammed says, pointing out how this is reflected in several characters in The Burdened. Israa is an obvious example, as she has to bravely take a step that she deems necessary for her family, even if it goes against her religious beliefs and puts her under societal scorn.

After shooting the ending, Mohammed says she had to separate herself from the film crew and locked herself in her room for two days, weeping. Watching the film in Amman brought out many of those emotions again and she says she had to step out and wait for that scene to pass.

Yet, her character’s moral and religious quandary is not the film’s only example of how economic hardship affects a person.

Mohammed underscores the transformation endured by the character of Ahmed, who works in a broadcast station in Aden and hasn’t been paid for months. “He starts losing his principles,” she points out. “He is an educated and well-read person, but he starts showing tendencies of violence towards his wife."

When Mohammed left Yemen for Egypt, she was like the many who were not only escaping the conflict and its economic repercussions, but also themselves. “War has certainly changed us," she says. "It brought out the worst in us. Sometimes, it also brought out the best. The greatest fear is that the worst will come out. How much can a person take, without having to change who they are?”

This friction between staying true to one’s principles and having to adapt to reality is a central focus in The Burdened. The theme resonates across several characters, from Israa and Ahmed to the gynaecologist Dr Muna, who is portrayed by Samah Alamrani.

The Burdened is an excellent film for the way it subtly explores these ideas, often with a look or a wordless exchange. Scenes have been shot with painterly sensibilities and a nuanced script is depicted on screen with evocative performances across the board.

As much as The Burdened offers an intimate and unflinching portrait of a struggling family, the film is also a dedication to the city of Aden. In that way, it falls cohesively in Gamal’s output as a director, with several of his films offering snapshots of his hometown during a particular time. Mohammed says it was Gamal’s artistic sensibility and his reputation of being one of Yemen’s finest filmmakers that made her unquestionably take on the project.

“He puts Yemen and Aden on a global platform,” Mohammed says. “People may know what’s happening in Yemen, but they may not know what we feel in Aden as we walk through the city and see the buildings destroyed, the places that hold our memory destroyed. Amr is documenting this in a way.”

Mohammed has now returned to Aden, but she says she doesn’t know how long she’ll be able to stay. “I am currently thinking of leaving because the reality of the situation has only gotten worse,” she says. “There are a lot of restrictions for actors and those who work in media. Jobs are seasonal and we don’t have the luxury, anyway.”