Watch Taste of Cement

Taste of Cement is a gripping and haunting documentary produced by Syrian director Ziad Kalthoum, which offers a visceral account of the shattered lives of the people at the heart of the Syrian conflict. The film explores the lives of Syrian construction workers who are rebuilding Beirut, a city that was shattered by a brutal 15-year civil war that ended in 1990.

The documentary's protagonist is a young Syrian worker, named Othman, who spends his days sifting through rubble, welding metal, and surrounded by the sounds of cement mixers, drills and the ongoing conflict in his home country. Othman is just one of thousands of Syrians displaced by the conflict, who have fled from the disastrous effects of war to seek work on Lebanese construction sites.

The film tells the story of these workers and their daily routines, capturing the extremity of their living conditions, both in their work and in their makeshift homes where they endure cramped living quarters and limited access to basic necessities. It showcases the grinding, repetitious and often dangerous work of these laborers, contrasting their perilous existence with the luxury developments that they are building for wealthy Lebanese citizens.

Despite being in Lebanon, the work these workers perform starts to feel like a modern-day slavery, their living conditions being only slightly better than their situation in Syria. The film explores profound themes such as displacement, war, survival, and the role of work in our lives. This documentary highlights the desperation of the workers, who are stripped of their dignity and robbed of their basic human rights due to circumstances beyond their control.

But beyond the drudgery of their work, the film also touches on the universality of the human experience, showing the workers engaging in mundane activities, such as cooking meals or playing football. Director Ziad Kalthoum uses this mix of everyday moments and harsh work conditions to create a subtle observation on the human experience and the vital role that work plays in shaping it.

What makes Taste of Cement particularly poignant is the film's use of sound: the constant noise of construction work contrasts sharply with silence and anxiousness in the Syrian streets, making the viewer acutely aware of the sound of war. The "taste of cement" that Othman mentions is not just the gritty, earthen taste left in his mouth after a day's work, but also the bitter, gritty aftertaste of war that he and others back home have to live with every day.

Through these intimately detailed moments, we experience the workers' lives and build empathy for them. The aim of the documentary is not to present these Syrian workers as victims but rather as human beings fighting for survival, striving to find meaning and purpose in their lives despite the difficult circumstances that they face daily.

Overall, Taste of Cement is an intensely human and empathetic documentary that provides a unique perspective on the Syrian conflict. It is a visually stunning and evocative work that captures the whole range of human emotions and struggles through the lens of the laborers who build our cities.

Taste of Cement is a 2020 documentary with a runtime of 1 hour and 25 minutes. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 7.3.