Last Men in Aleppo – De sidste mænd i Aleppo (2017)

Directed by: Feras Fayyad | 104 minutes | documentary, war

They are called the ‘White Helmets’, the volunteers who, after each bombardment in Syria, go as quickly as possible to the scene of the disaster to see if they can get any living from under the rubble. The organization, officially called the Syrian Civil Defense (SCD), is financially supported by foreign funds. Recently, the work of the White Helmets has – and rightly so – been receiving more and more attention in the media. For example, British-German filmmaker Orlando von Einsiedel and his colleague Joanna Natasegara made the forty-minute documentary ‘The White Helmets’ (2016) for Netflix. That film, which follows a group of volunteers from the SCD during their work, was nominated for two Oscars; the one for best documentary and the one for best short documentary – and took home the prize in the latter category. Reportedly none other than George Clooney is currently working on a feature film about the White Helmets. ‘Last Men in Aleppo’ (2017), a Syrian-Danish co-production, follows the same subject but is an hour longer than ‘The White Helmets’. For a hundred minutes, the viewer is confronted with the heroism of the White Helmets, who risk their own lives to save the lives of others. But it is also a hundred minutes full of upheaval, powerlessness and frustration. Because the chance that the few people who are rescued alive from under the rubble will make it through is often small.

Syrian filmmaker Feras Fayyad literally sat on top of the fire for a year. With his film, he wants to show the world what is actually going on in Aleppo, the once bustling historic city in Syria where normally more than 2.7 million people live. Since 2011, Syria has been engulfed in a bloody civil war that has killed more than 400,000 people, according to human rights groups. At least four million people have been displaced. Aleppo is one of the worst affected areas; of the nearly one million inhabitants, only about 250,000 remain. They are people who cannot or will not flee, and people like Mahmoud and Khaled, who have taken on the task of rescuing victims of attacks. Once a building has collapsed, they head for it with their fellow White Helmets. Not only with the hope that still living people will be able to get out of the debris, but also to be able to salvage the bodies of victims. Because that is also part of it. ‘Look for severed limbs,’ they shout to each other, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. They take great risks during their work. Not only can the ruins in which they find themselves continue to collapse, they also have to be on the lookout for new attacks. The constant threat of new air strikes severely limits their range of movement. ‘Last Men in Aleppo’ shows their courage, their willingness to sacrifice themselves for the greater purpose of saving their city. Because men like Mahmoud and Khaled do this work out of love for their Aleppo.

We also see what happens after someone is pulled from under the rubble. In an instant, the euphoria of finding a living child can turn to tragedy and sadness when the lifeless body of a mother or brother is discovered. Because that is also part of it; informing the family, expressing condolences – it’s the aftercare. For example, we see that Mahmoud visibly struggles when he visits the family of one of the children he rescued. He went there to show his support, but is received as a kind of hero. The boy, whom we saw earlier with a terrible head wound, can’t take his eyes off his rescuer. It is an intimate moment of emotion. Later, Mahmoud feels guilty because he feels that he has been ‘bragging’ about his work. The discomfort with which Mahmoud undergoes this veneration makes us realize that, despite those exploits, he is only human. Khaled is the father of two daughters, for whom he tries to keep everyday life as normal as possible. They buy a goldfish together, and during a short-lived ceasefire he takes them to a playground, though there’s always that threat. Khaled is always in doubt whether he should flee, like hundreds of thousands of other inhabitants of Aleppo. Because there are fewer and fewer people left to stay ahead of in Aleppo. He is also concerned about his brother, who is eager to help him, and about his parents, who are under the illusion that their sons are ‘safe’ in Turkey…

For a film shot in a war zone, the camera work in ‘Last Men in Aleppo’ is remarkably clear and stable. The images are impressive, not only because of what they show, but also because of the way they are shot. If you look critically at this film, you may wonder whether ‘Last Men in Aleppo’ adds anything to what we saw earlier in the much shorter ‘The White Helmets’ for example. Men like Khaled and Mahmoud live in a vicious circle of desperate rescue attempts, fear of becoming a victim themselves and doubt and discussion about the future. But this is how these people live. The repetition in the film underlines the gloom of the situation of those left behind. Fayyad does not hesitate to show the horrific consequences of the bombings, because that is what it is. So including shot hands, feet and other body parts, gaping head wounds, a severe lack of medical care and decent housing and with constant imminent danger. That is confrontational, painful and difficult to see, but it is the reality. With every child that is rescued from the rubble, you know that there is a real chance that it will become a victim again. A rescued child therefore makes you almost as sad as a dead child. Looking away because you know the images from the news, is burying your head in the sand. There is a humanitarian disaster in Syria and the men in ‘Last Men in Aleppo’ are trying to save what can be saved. Their endless reserves of courage, humanity, dignity and selflessness are inspiring and give a tiny glimmer of hope in an otherwise almost hopeless battle.