Based on the life of Samia Yusuf Omar, a young athlete from Somalia who had represented the country in the Beijing Olympics but met with a rather heartbreaking fate in 2012, Samia focuses on the journey of the protagonist against the backdrop of a country that is crumbling under the influence of civil war. The story here isn’t an easy watch by any stretch of imagination, rather being bittersweet and heartbreaking in many ways. The more I read about the talented protagonist(before watching the film), the more I was curious on her journey. The struggles of an athlete is something known to everyone, but when a talented athlete has to fight the society and the threatening influences around her, is what makes for a compelling watch. And Samia is exactly that from a storytelling point of view. The screenplay standing at a shade above 100 minutes unfolds in a non-linear fashion with the focus being on Samia’s journey in her initial days in Mogadishu, while also focuses on her escape from a militant camp in Libya only for fate to have other plans. 

The drama sets the context with a little history of Somalia, a country ruled by dictatorship for years before the onset of civil war. Here, the country of Somalia and the neighbouring counrry of Ethiopia(indirectly) play an important character in the drama, simply from the point of view of shaping the fate of the protagonist. Very early on, you are introduced to the protagonist who is shown to be taken hostage by a militant group in Libya. This while she escapes, only for the screen to transition to the Beijing Olympics wherein she had represented the country. I quite liked the transition here, that gave the viewers a fair idea on the context of the film only for the drama to switch timelines to the early days of Samia. She is the fastest in her neighbourhood, better than kids her age that catches the eye of her father who is always so encouraging. But what Somalia as a country does is resort to violence, and in the process curb the rights of women, something that Samia gets to witness very early on. 

The proceedings have oscillating emotions from happiness and joy, to moments of grief and uncertainty. And all of these emotions are showcased through the gaze of Samia who finds the only motivation from her father along the way, someone who also has a say in her household. Running and sprinting for Samia is nothing but freedom – freedom from the society and all the pressures that it brings with it. And this itself makes for a fascinating watch. This is in contrasts to the state of affairs of Somalia that even restricts movement of their citizens. 

I did feel that the film briefly suffers with its transitions in the third act – Samia’s journey from Mogadishu to representing the country at the Beijing Olympics to being caught by the militant group, and to her eventual escape and her tryst with fate, all of it seemed a little abrupt although not quite fragmented. Probably the writing needed a sense of calmness to it which wouod have sailed through to greater heights. In between, the drama does also account for some heartwarming moments like Samia’s family watching her on TV for the first time and silently cheering for her. But at the end of it, the final act is painfully heartbreaking and it seemed almost a spiritual successor to Io Capitano given how that film had ended. The screenplay is quite well written and makes for a compelling watch.