The bravery of the White Helmets in Syria is beyond dispute, but what is there left to say about them? Plus, any documentary about Aleppo is liable to seem dated within weeks. However, Last Men in Aleppo skilfully sidesteps these concerns, even if it necessarily feels like a long and depressing story of inevitable failure.
Directed by Feras Fayyad in collaboration with Danish film-maker Steven Johannessen and the Aleppo Media Centre, this documentary explores lives spent in a loop. Volunteers cast anxious looks skywards as planes fly over, embark on a series of desperate rescues, and hold long discussions about the future for them and their families. This cycle plays out and then restarts. It’s a difficult watch, and one that will end with more imminent deaths and defeat one day closer.
Fayyad doesn’t flinch from the gruesome details. We see hands, feet and other body parts in the rubble, as well as children’s gaping head wounds: there’s little break from the tears and desperation. This is a 100-minute account of lives lived in hell, without proper medicine and housing, where a gathering of friends is considered a legitimate bombing target, and where children’s hospitals are shelled. A trip to a playground offers a moment of joy, but in less than a minute, the children are begging to be taken home as jets fly over.
The film’s problem is that most of us have seen variations on this material in news reports. While we might not have seen this level of embedded access, we’ve seen enough to know what’s happening in Aleppo is distressing; Netflix’s The White Helmets is 40 minutes long, which feels about right. Some viewers will wonder if they need to spend 100 minutes seeing it all again.
Fayyad’s protagonists are engaging. They are bound by a desire to never leave the city they love, even as it disintegrates around them, and we’re with them in every rescue, even if the similarity of all the footage distances us from the action. There’s no hope, we know how this is going to end, and even a life saved temporarily feels almost as sad as a life lost. Last Men in Aleppo is one of the most difficult documentaries you’ll see this year.
There are touching moments – a boy rescued from certain death under the rubble refuses to let his lifesaver leave the house, insisting he stay for coffee. The embarrassment of his saviour is beautiful to see. But even he knows that Aleppo is not a place for happiness or gratitude.
