1/30/18 - Last Men Of Aleppo (2017) -7+/10

Like a stream of consciousness committed to film as we tag along for a longer “White Helmets”-esque testimonial. Raw, moving, and off-putting, with the severity their existence is being an inescapable reality of your viewing experience.

So organic and palpable. It is seemingly unfiltered and most certainly unforgiving. There are marked searing visuals that will shake you. Numerous truly exceptional shots and experiences. Nothing is held back and art is squeezed from the pain, the misery, and the little joys surrounding.

It’s as darling as it is dark, with a deep & experiential empathy and humanity. The core value we are given is trying to live while not dying. It is touching to see their passion and their grace in the face of everything around them striving to snatch those ideas & moments that matter the most.

Abrupt at times, but devastating, putting faces, fears, doubts, determination, and death in a real and lasting contextual framework to experience the terror that is life in Syria. Constantly making a point of emphasizing the near nightmarish-ness of this world, always pierced by the agonizing and unavoidable screams of the jets and their bombardments. A film of pain and perseverance, until neither is longer possible. Mournful, proud, hesitantly hopeful, and dire - worthy of a watch.