In a new piece at The Washington Times Laura Kelly interviews oscar-nominated Syrian director Fares Fayyad about his film which focuses on civilian plight in civil war:
The opening scenes of the “Last Men in Aleppo” are gruesome and shocking.
The Syrian documentary follows volunteers for the storied White Helmet rescue and recovery team as they rush to the scene of a recent bombing. From the rubble of a collapsed building, they first pull out a toddler badly bleeding from his head.
They quickly work to free his siblings. The lifeless body of an infant is handed off from volunteer to volunteer. Another child is recovered, dead. A final child, his arm sticking out from the gray rocks and dirt gives a small jerk — he’s alive. The White Helmets free him.
The shooting of the film began in 2013. Between 2013 and 2016, Mr. Fayyad was in eastern Aleppo which was under the control of rebel opposition groups. Estimates of the population during that time range from as low as 30,000 to over 300,000 according to the Atlantic Council. Yet what is clear is that apartments, schools and hospitals were fair targets for an enemy that would drop heavy munitions and barrel bombs designed to maim and terrorize, filled with shrapnel, explosives and chemicals.
For her full article
