How Syrian Super Mario is taking on the refugee crisis

We can assume that David Cameron is a bit of a gamer, having been buste dobsessively playing Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds in the past. So there is an outside chance that, finally, he might soften his government’s harsh, grudging response to the Syrian refugee crisis. Because one of the gaming world’s most famous characters – the moustachioed plumber Mario – has been co-opted into highlighting the plight of those attempting to flee from the Scylla and Charybdis of Isis and Bashar al-Assad.

A Syrian artist, pseudonymously known as Samir al-Mutfi, has created Syrian Super Mario, a satirical video that is currently going viral, highlighting the horrors faced by Syrian refugees – by tweaking the 1985 video game Super Mario Bros. Mario has taken many forms over the decades, but this time he has become Refugee Mario. And instead of making his way to Bowser’s castle in order to rescue Princess Peach, he merely has to get to the castle, which now bears the forbidding legend: “Camp”.

Along the way, many perils (all rendered in the familiar Super Mario Bros style, with sound effects to match) await. Grabbing his suitcase and emptying his savings account by bashing a money-block with his head, Refugee Mario hands his funds to traffickers, undergoes a perilous Mediterranean crossing (thank goodness he has multiple lives), evades border-patrolling soldiers eager to lock him up and finally reaches the dubious sanctuary of a refugee camp.

Speaking to the BBC, Mutfi – who himself fled Homs for Istanbul in 2011 – said: “Five months ago, my best friend drowned in the sea while travelling from Turkey to Greece: the engine on the boat exploded. That’s when I got the idea for the video. It needed to be a simple and clear idea that would work irrespective of language. I used Super Mario because it’s famous all over the world. It’s like music – a universal language.”

Mutfi, now working for a Turkish outfit, Online for Media, fled Homs after two of his brothers were killed. He has since made a number of animations parodying Assad’s speeches, having discovered that he can mimic his voice uncannily. Which may – along with his Syrian Super Mario video – have made him a marked man. But that doesn’t worry him: “We used to live in Syria without any dignity or freedom, but we don’t have anything now. It’s so disappointing to see what is happening with this refugee crisis. It’s life or death. We have to make our own futures.”