This is indeed quite a challenge for Madi to take on, but also a test she passes with flying colours. For starters, the cinematography is impulsive but well studied and truly captures the essence of a life of immobility along with its frustrations, its longing for human contact but also the positive sides that result out of a shift in priority the condition in which Ibrahim suddenly found himself. There are no camera movements, no handheld shots. Most of the time, the camera is standing very still on a tripod, and this is true whether she captures interactions between the subjects of her documentary or whether she chooses to more abstractly and visually represent the emotive atmosphere of the situation by, for instance, taking an extreme close up look of a corner of a wardrobe in the room, or entertaining the perspective of the outide world seen from the perspective of Ibrahim in bed looking out the window.
Out of this restrictive confinement, however, is also a gripping and almost real life soap operatic explorationship of the closeness and friendship between Ibrahim and his carer Walid. The relationship between the two, their gossipping, their contrasts and even occasional touching moments of friendships make the two look like an old bickering couple - despite the fact that caring for Ibrahim takes up incredible amounts of time and Walid has a wife and kids he barely gets to see because of his work - becomes the driving force behind the film. Yes, Saken is an experience and as such it remains faithful and sensible to the struggles of the central subject, but the natural charisma of Madi's central subjects an the genuine chemistry they share on screen often makes the film surprisingly entertaining.
That is why when in the middle of the film the two are separated as Walid goes on a holiday trip to visit his family, the film falls in a third act where not much happens, and whatever happens is represented as absurdity. This is the part where we, the viewer understand that the friendship, love and bond can be dependance - and this is something that becomes representative of the lives of each of us, which is probably why another reason why it is the part that is most testing on the viewer. But in the end, it makes perfect sense in the collective observational nature of the documentary, and as such works perfectly well.
