A black tie affair in New York where Raqqua
Is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS) a group of regular citizens from the
Syrian city turned journalist is receiving the International Press Freedom
Award dominates the opening frames of this new Matthew Heineman documentary
feature. The group dedicated to documenting the activities of the Islamic State
in their hometown risking life and limb to get the truth out to the world. The
scene shifts back to Raqqa where the history of the city starting with the 2011
Arab Spring before the arrival of ISIS is recounted then the continuing
deteriorating fate of the inhabitants after the religious movement takes hold.
A large portion of the action is filmed
outside of Syria. The Islamic State determined to stop RBSS use their network
of informers to lean names of the group members and associates killing all that
are caught usually publically in the most inhumane manner. The actions of the
Religious leaders forced the founding members to flee to Turkey and Germany
communicating thorough Skype plus other social media outlets to those members that remained behind to get daily updates on the fate of the city
and to be a source receiving the smuggled out reports to broadcast to the world.
The reach of ISIS is so great that the exiled members are not even completely
safe held up in secret safe houses in the two countries.
Director Heineman clearly developed an
extraordinary level of trust with the journalist activist. They are facing the
threat of assassination around each corner but allow the filmmaker complete
access to their homes, hidden safehouses, families and daily activities. Heinemen is allowed to document the methods the reporters use that are
still in country, communications with the exiled leaders and their methods to
get the story out to the world.
The brutality of ISIS is plainly on display
in the film with their propaganda videos often featuring young rifle clad
children in military uniform is front and centre. The violent chants coming
from there young mouths is disturbing to say the least.
ISIS vows to track down these journalist wherever they are in the world to
deliver them to the grave. Several segments shows the founding members watching
the ISIS propaganda videos on their laptops. One in particular shows two
brothers seeing on screen the execution of their father by the terrorist group.
The deep profound effect of living under constant fear combined with guilt of
being the ones that got out and are living a life with happy moments is an
unimaginable balancing act for the ex-pats. On top of this
reality is an important sequence where members of the group are faced with
German anti-Muslimism protestors marching demanding that all Muslims refugees
should be banished from their country and sent back home.
City
of Ghosts is a study of a new template in activist
journalism. Yesteryears tools of a notepad, pencil, personal interviews and
open on scene documentation with press markings on clothing are gone. The new social
media based practice is masked, undercover, hidden methods to capture footage
and smuggle the documentation out of the country for editing and
broadcast. Satellite uplinks are
replaced with scrambled phone signals and hushed skype calls. Matthew Heineman presents the story of Raqqa from both inside and outside her borders. The
positive results are presented clearly alongside the most brutal and negative
events. It’s an important piece of filmmaking that I can highly recommend.
**** Out of 4.
City of Ghosts | Matthew Heineman | U.S.A. | 2017 | 91 Minutes.
Tags: Raqqa, Syria, Journalism, Execution, Assassination, Turkey, Germany, Skype, Propaganda, ISIS, Refugee.
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