Last Men in Aleppo (2017)

If you aren't familiar with the White Helmets, you should learn. They are a group of civilians in Syria and Turkey who volunteer for urban search and rescue. Basically as buildings are being bombed out they rush in and pull people out. It is one of the greatest examples of heroism in the modern world. Last Men in Aleppo chronicles what it is like to be a part of this group.

Last Men in Aleppo pulls no punches. As an audience safe in our cinemas or on our couches we watch as they pull the bodies of children and babies form destroyed buildings. We watch as the volunteers themselves are hurt and die. We watch as these men live their lives, impossible lives to imagine for westerners, eating street food, supporting each other, and living on despite conditions that we can simply not imagine.

But we don't have to imagine it. We can see it for ourselves. The strength of this film is how it looks unblinkingly at the horror and finds amazing examples of humanity. It is a tribute to these heroes. Like the Oscar Winning short film White Helmets, Last Men in Aleppo opens a window into a world few of us could survive. Movies are so often about heores. This is an amazing example of that.

Last Men in Aleppo
Writer/Director: Feras Fayyad