"The Final Scene" Cinema of Memory and Destiny

The Final Scene by director Eyas Al-Mokdad is a cinematic experience that starts from individual and collective memory to touch on the deepest questions of human destiny in light of major transformations. The film, which blends documentary and experimental cinema, does not only tell a story but also explores the concept of narration itself and how events are shaped in consciousness.
 
In the final scene, Al-Mokdad addresses the themes of war, asylum, loss, the search for identity, and the characters’ internal conflict. However, he does so not in a direct or rhetorical manner, but rather through images, scenes, and quotes from texts written by his brother, Orwa, that intertwine between the past and the present, the personal and the collective, making the film a visual experience that challenges traditional narrative. It is as if the camera here is not just a recording tool, but a window through which the viewer looks out onto memory, reconstructing it with each shot.
 
What distinguishes the film is the way it deals with time, as Al-Mokdad breaks the traditional chronology and makes time more like a vortex in which memories overlap with lived events. The scenes follow one another in a way that is closer to the flow of thoughts and memories, reflecting the state of psychological and geographical dispersion experienced by his characters.
 
Searching for the End in "The Final Scene"
The title itself carries a paradox: is it really the final scene or the beginning of a new story? With this open question, Al-Muqdad leaves the door wide open for interpretation, as the ending in the film becomes a reflection of endless questions about fate and identity. The director does not seek to provide answers, but rather invites the viewer to embark on a journey through memory and place, to search for his own “final scene.”