Last Men in Aleppo
Winner of the Grand Jury Documentary prize at the Sundance Film Festival, Syrian filmmaker Feras Fayyad’s breathtaking work — a searing example of boots-on-the-ground reportage — follows the efforts of the internationally recognized White Helmets, an organization consisting of ordinary citizens who are the first to rush towards military strikes and attacks in the hope of saving lives. Incorporating moments of both heart-pounding suspense and improbable beauty, the documentary draws us into the lives of three of its founders — Khaled, Subhi, and Mahmoud — as they grapple with the chaos around them and struggle with an ever-present dilemma: do they flee or stay and fight for their country?
-
- Cast:
Similar titles
Reviews
It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
This impressive documentary is deserving of an Oscar nomination. What caught my eye is the word "Aleppo," the Syrian city that's been under attack by numerous people ever since. Maybe the fact this documentary is about the Syrian civil war got me watching this documentary on Netflix first (It has 2 other feature documentaries available to view.) could assure the Oscar win. "Last Men In Aleppo" follows some Syrian rescue workers identified as "White Helmets" & showcases these men as humans--husbands and fathers taking care of their families but also saving living citizens & recovering the dead, both caught in the bombing of the city. Also the rescue workers struggle with the conflict of leaving Syria to find better lives for themselves & their families. As an American safely observing the Syrian warfare on the news, I cannot take for granted my own country & my liberties & privileges as the White Helmets of Aleppo see death & war as a regular part of their lives.
Ooff....I can't even.How do you review a movie like "Last Men in Aleppo?" It's about as opposite from entertaining as you're likely to get, yet it should be watched by everybody. It's incredibly urgent, yet it's so lacking in hope that it seems naive to think it will inspire any kind of action or change. It's basically an obituary for a country that hasn't completely died yet, but is certainly dying. And doing so while the world stands back and watches.Last year, the film that won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject was about a member of the White Helmets, a volunteer emergency response group in Syria. He enjoyed 15 minutes of fame when footage of him pulling a living baby from rubble circulated the Internet. That man is now the focus of "Last Men in Aleppo," a film that chronicles his life and eventual death as a member of the White Helmets. Whereas "The White Helmets," in that image of a rescued baby, offered some ounce of hope to cling to, "Last Men in Aleppo" offers nothing but despair. It's the kind of movie that makes it difficult to go about your daily life. The mundane minutiae of being a privileged American -- my biggest annoyance right now is that the motion-sensor light on my garage needs to be replaced -- make me almost embarrassed to enjoy a life of extreme luxury compared to the living conditions of these poor poor people in Syria. That the developed world stood back and watched this conflict happen with a shrug of its collective shoulders will go down in history as one of its most shameful moments.Grade: A
90 people died in April 2017 when sarin gas projectiles were fired into Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the Idlib province of north-western Syria. of course Russia again used its veto to end an investigation of Syria chemical attacks. more than 1100 children are now suffering from acute malnutrition in the - since 2013 - besieged rebel-held eastern Ghouta where up to 400,000 people are believed to live in one of the last remaining opposition strongholds in Syria. their fate will be grimmer than those in Aleppo where Assad and Putin managed to slaughter thousands.cholera is spreading incredibly fast in Yemen, turning an already dire situation for children into an enormous disaster in the war that is mostly forgotten in the international media. and in Myanmar at the very moment (October 2017) about 600,000 Rohingyas have fled their homes for safety in Bangladesh after a genocide carried out by Myanmar military. survivors have reported summary executions, rape and the wholesale destruction of villages. land mines now line the road out of Myanmar causing even more deaths...the list of the ongoing hells in our world is endless. Aleppo is not over - not even in Aleppo itself where there are still countless bodies rotting in the ruins and many rescue workers and other inhabitants now in Assad's hellholes of prisons where they are daily tortured and then executed. the document in itself is as shocking and repulsive as you might expect but then it is shocking and repulsive at least for a normal human being to see dead babies and children covered in dust being dug up from devastated buildings and crumbled concrete. the document shot in hand-held camera is quite similar to "ambulance/Gaza" by Mohamed Jabaly (2016) which also focused on the desperate work of the rescue crew during the Israelian massacre of July 2014 in Gaza. both are utterly important eyewitness reports and both are sadly recommended.
Tough movie to watch. Tougher to read the reviews of dumb conspiracy theorists who think George Soros can cause solar eclipses and the such. It's actually a remarkably unpolitical film, but follows the day by day lives of firemen in Aleppo. It's pretty tragic, but the humanity of the people in Syria shine through.