The White Helmets

This documentary is about the Syrian Civil Defense or "The White Helmets" as the film makers decided to name them. It focuses on the personal side of the characters trying to make the viewer perceive these people as human beings rather than numbers you hear on the news. While the film succeeds at the emotional part, it fails to offer much else. There were many repetitive scenes for a 40 min documentary, and the focus on some characters went overboard sometimes.

Now, I wrote the previous part of my review trying to be as objective as possible. The next part, I will write as a Syrian who isn't on any of the many sides of the Syrian war. What made me write this review, my first on IMDb, is that I noticed many negative reviews seeming to push a propaganda opposite to the propaganda they were claiming this film is about. Comments I have high confidence they come from Syrian Assad supporters so I thought I would try to restore the balance.

While the film clearly favors the side of the WHs, their side itself is about "saving lives" regardless of any other factors so what is there to disagree with? Some commentators said the WHs are terrorists/islamists/etc and I find that really insulting as I don't myself live in a war zone in Syria, I never heard anyone questioning or criticizing WHs. Also, common sense tells me these people don't have to lie about their intentions in a country where there are countless factions fighting. Everyone is free to have their own opinion, but when most of the 1-star reviews come from 1 review accounts I find it fishy - one reviewer stating "England" as his country starts with "Shame on the western-world", a prevalent statement in the Al-Assad regime media.

Syria is a country where many evils fight. You have Al-Assad, factions affiliated with Al-Qaeda, and finally ISIS!! Each side will try to convince you with their story, like Assad fan base in many of the comments I mentioned, but the real story in Syria is about many villains fighting over the pie of things like power/oil/location and poor people suffering in the crossfire. The only light one can find in this tragedy is people like the ones in this movie whose mandate is save lives. Thank you White Helmets!

As a 1-star comment around here suggested, I did my homework on the White Helmets. Fortunately, claims that WH are terrorists seem to be unfounded and highly motivated by political reasons. Sources like Snopes - a fact-checking website, BBC, The Guardian and SBS, all agree that the accusations held against the WH are pure propaganda as there is no evidence whatsoever behind them.

This documentary, although a little "Hollywood", is a great depiction of those heroic people, risking their lives to save civilians, no matter what side they're on. It's a little short and some scenes might be staged, but in my opinion the documentary and the work of these men is truly inspirational and restores a little my hope in humanity. They deserve all the praise!

There are 14 1/10 reviews almost in a row here, I think people should think about where these may have come from as it does not seem like a coincidence.

This documentary film tells the story of a group of civilians in Syria, who volunteer for a group called The White Helmets to save lives of people affected by the civil war.

The film contains footage of air raids and rescue. There is a scene where bombs are seen dropping from a plane, trailing them to the ground and then we see buildings explode. This scene just makes me speechless. The miracle baby scene makes me very touched. I hope more people will take part in humanitarian missions. If the war would stop, that would be even better.

Watch this. It's a shocking, horrifying, saddening film, but also one that gives you hope in humanity and makes you realize how lucky we are to live in peace. It tells you that in the darkest places in this world there is a light of good and selfishness, that true heroes do exist. I can only wish to be half as good an human being as the heroes portrait in this documentary. A must watch film, even if its a difficult one to stomach. For future generations to judge us on.