This award-winning documentary, submitted by Syria/USA (English captions
when needed) to the 2014 Seattle International Film Festival held our
attention from beginning to end. We were witnesses to history in the
making and, I hasten to add, this review will cover just a small part of
what we saw!
The most unlikely spark plug in the 2012 "Arab
Spring" came about as a Syrian-born American college student using
Facebook, Skype, Twitter and countless cell phones helped organize the
revolution in Syria. Using the social networks' "phone-tree-" type
concept, her organizational and language skills plus the ability to gain
the trust of the various rebels allowed her to plan demonstrations,
parades (complete with escape routes) and expose the brutality of the
Bashar al-Assad dictatorship for what it is: a savage and continual human-rights
violation! ...about which the United Nations does nothing.
If one
of her contacts is captured by Assad's military in Damascus or Homs,
she is quickly notified in the US. She already has their sign-on
information and passwords, so she promptly shuts down the prisoner's
accounts; by the time an investigation begins, there is no account to
examine.
When she gets up in the morning, dons her Reeboks and
grabs her iPhone, her worried father reminds her not to text while
driving. She attends school and has a part-time job, but the rebellion
takes most of her time and energy. Revolutionary training reminds the
rebels to film the protests, include a landmark building so the location
is recognizable, find a way to introduce the date and time but NEVER
film the faces of the participants!
There is a massive
accumulation of photographic evidence that will prove human rights
violations. The death toll of Syrians so far is staggering! The FSA
(Free Syria Army) is staffed by former Syrian military who regrouped as a
rebel army because they refused to shoot their fellow citizens; they
try to protect the protesters. There is a desperate need for munitions
and medical supplies.
We are saddened to learn that some of the
rebellion organizers and key filmmakers we have come to know are killed
during the time we follow the rebellion.
Our heroine has visited
Syria several times, always bringing medical supplies and any other kind
of assistance she can muster. One of the older fellows says, "Someone
who undertakes half a rebellion digs his own grave."